Table 2 Processes, mechanisms, and lessons learned for our community engagement activities during our different phases

Phase1

• Community selection

Recruitment of local community health workers.

Following the security recommendations of local health authorities and our local team members allowed us to generate an initial list of candidate colonias to evaluate. This was further delimited with the comments provided by HEPs.

Consultation with local public health authorities.

Consultation with highly engaged person (HEP).

• Community entry

Flexible dissemination strategy

Not forcing community meetings or interaction between community members was key for recruitment of HEPs in the AGO project colonias.

Field product adjustments

Adjusting the traps used to fit the requirements of participants and surveillance efforts reduced our dropout rate of HEPs.

Phase2

• Recruitment strategies

House-to-house visits

The use of flyers during the house-to-house visits served two purposes: provide information of the project and a signal for household occupancy.

Planned meetings

Colonias have very different social dynamics, even for those that are geographically close.

Requesting personal information can negatively affect the participation rate of community members.

• Retention strategy

Building rapport

Schedule weekly visits for trap surveillance allowed us to have informal conversations with HEPs that ranged beyond project topics.

Knowledge, attitude, and practices survey

The surveys allowed us to get a perspective of the gaps of information community members might have and what topics should be addressed when preparing information dissemination.

Result flyer

Providing community members with results and allowing them be part of the development of informative flyers gave HEP’s a sense that they were doing something to help their community.

Phase 3

• Adapting recruitment strategies

Community based flyers

The use of a short recruitment flyers that were developed with the input from community members and tailored for the colonias involved in each project improved participation.

Stand-in meetings

Allowing flexibility of when we could present our project and provide information in a more informal scenario, was key to reach community members that were hesitant to participate or hard to find at home.

Science tent

The tent provided us with additional exposure in the colonia, and generated curiosity by some community members, but additional efforts are required to fully engage hard-to-reach persons.