Mary DeCoster has passionately dedicated her career to improving the health of mothers and children in low-resource communities, both domestically and internationally, for the last 31 years. She is a quiet but powerful advocate for recognizing and developing a community’s inherent strengths and resources in respectful ways. As a certified lactation consultant, childbirth educator, and parent educator, Mary has worked with vulnerable populations in North Carolina and internationally on both maternal and child health and HIV programs.
Mary is an expert facilitator, trainer and skilled curriculum writer and has developed curricula for Care Groups with Curamericas Global and Food for the Hungry. She has also co-authored several Care Group publications. Mary chairs FSN Network’s Care Group Forward Interest Group, which has been instrumental in promoting the Care Group model and in improving the quality of its implementation. She also oversees www.caregroupinfo.org, a clearinghouse of resources, technical documents and reports to encourage and support Care Group implementers. Her humble leadership of the FSN
Network’s Social and Behavioral Change (SBC) Task Force and Care Groups Forward encouraged increased collaboration and transparency within the community of practice. As many in CORE Group’s community know, Mary has also dedicated countless hours to mentoring and coaching others in SBC – both inside and outside of CORE Group – with the desire to save lives and improve the quality of life for the most vulnerable.
Mary currently serves as Director of Social and Behavioral Change Programs at Food for the Hungry.