A national Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) coordination taskforce is working on the RCCE response planning and implementation of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the post-blast phase to identify priority actions, create messages and strategies, and coordinate work on the ground to avoid duplication, and share best practices and lessons learned.
The pressing items facing the RCCE coordination working group is the resurgence of COVID-19 cases following the port blast of August 4, stressing on the importance of rapid social and behavioral insight assessments to inform and guide the development of targeted communication. The RCCE taskforce echoed the importance of capitalizing on the spontaneous community engagement and solidarity evident in response to the blast to re-frame the new life with COVID post-blast.
The goal of risk communication and community engagement in this context is to strengthen community systems to work jointly with authorities to address the twin impacts of (i) COVID-19 and (ii) the port blast aftermath response. It is critical for RCCE to move from a focus on dissemination of information to more subtle approaches that link the blast aftermath to national solidarity and a long-term collective community approach emphasizing compassion and resilience.
The RCCE working group will join efforts to act collectively and individually with an increased sense of solidarity and joint accountability for upcoming campaigns. COVID-19 is preventable and we know what to do; the answer is in the community. The answer is in our hands.
Currently there are several national outreach campaigns being launched or in the process of finalization.
Campaign 1: COVID-19 community transmission phase (currently being disseminated). This is a campaign that sensitizes people to be responsible on an individual basis by implementing preventive measure to protect themselves and loved one.
Campaign 2: COVID-19 community transmission phase this campaign is a bigger with a wider outreach than the first campaign. It will target the whole population including people in settlements and refugee camps. It will include outreach though outdoor, print, social media, local TV, community leaders, influencers and other means to make sure the whole community is reached. Target of this campaign is for the promotion of long term behaviour change in the context of the new life with COVID-19 and aftermath blast impacts.
Back-to-School campaign: The target population of this campaign are parents on one hand and through them children, and on the other hand the academic field especially school staff. This will sensitize people on teaching their children how to wear a mask, maintain physical distancing and wash hands on a regular basis. It also focuses on how schools can protect students and their staff.
Measles campaign: This campaign is phase 2 of the measles campaign initially launched last year and was postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak in the country.
