Paz
Spanish
peace
About
Two founders building evidence with the communities who live it.
PazNia Health was founded on a simple idea: public health is most useful when the people most affected help shape the questions, the methods, and what the findings mean. We bring graduate-level training in qualitative and mixed-methods research, years of fieldwork across the US, sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia, and a deep respect for the partners we work with.
Our name
Peace and purpose, woven into one name.
PazNia joins Spanish paz and Swahili nia — a reflection of our founders' backgrounds and the way we aim to work.
Nia
Swahili
purpose
We chose a name that holds both languages on purpose. Paz speaks to the calm, safety, and care we bring to sensitive research — especially trauma-informed, community-engaged work where trust matters as much as methods.
Nia speaks to intention: research and evaluation that serve a clear purpose for the communities and partners at the center of the work, not evidence for its own sake.
Together, PazNia is a reminder that rigorous public health practice can be peaceful in process and purposeful in outcome.
Paz + Nia = PazNia
Who we are
Meet the founders.
Grace and Dr. Alinda Nyamaizi lead complementary practice in participatory research, evaluation, and global capacity building.
Grace Myers, MPH
Co-founder · Research, evaluation & participatory methods
MPH, Health Equity · UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health · North Carolina
Grace partners with NGOs, health departments, and community organizations in North Carolina and internationally on participatory research and program evaluation — with a focus on designs where communities shape the questions and what findings mean.
- Photovoice & participatory research
- Program evaluation
- Youth engagement
- Grant writing & knowledge translation
Dr. Alinda Nyamaizi
Co-founder · Maternal, child & family health research (she/her)
PhD, Maternal & Child Health (UNC Gillings) · MPH (Tulane) · North Carolina
Dr. Nyamaizi designs, implements, and evaluates programs that advance maternal, child, youth, and family health — drawing on systematic reviews, qualitative and mixed-methods research, and knowledge translation across 6+ countries.
- Systematic reviews & mixed-methods research
- Multi-country capacity building
- Maternal, child & youth health
- Policy briefs & dissemination
Our approach
Research as a relationship, not a transaction.
We've designed studies inside health departments, run Photovoice projects with youth, coached implementation teams across multi-country programs, and helped community coalitions turn their experience into the kind of evidence funders and policymakers will engage with.
Our work sits at the intersection of academic rigor and on-the-ground practicality. Every project starts with listening — to the partner, to the data, and to the community whose lives the work is meant to support.
The most rigorous research is also the most relational. Trust is part of the methodology.
What we stand for
Values that shape every project.
Equity at the center
Whose voice is in the room, and who decides what counts as evidence — these are research questions, not afterthoughts.
Participatory by default
We design with communities, not for them. That shapes everything from study questions to how findings are shared.
Trauma-informed practice
We pay attention to power, safety, and care in how we ask questions, facilitate groups, and share findings back.
Globally informed, locally grounded
Years of work across continents have taught us to listen first, and to take local knowledge as seriously as published literature.
Sustainable partnerships
We build capacity inside organizations so the work continues long after a contract ends.
Areas of expertise
Where our work tends to land.
- Maternal & child health
- Sexual & reproductive health
- Youth engagement
- Food systems & nutrition
- Qualitative methodology
- Mixed-methods design
- Program evaluation
- Facilitation & co-design
- Dissemination & policy briefs
A little more about us
Outside of work, we're shaped by food systems, gardens, and the cultures we've been welcomed into. Those things show up in how we work, too — slowly, with care, and with the people in front of us.