UNICEF and NIRDPR equip over 280,000 community leaders on COVID-19 Risk Communications

April 2020, Hyderabad More than 280,000 community leaders from Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka have been equipped, through a series of online workshops, to promote the practice of social behaviours required to check the spread of COVID-19 in their remote communities.

The workshops are a joint initiative by the UNICEF and the Communication Resource Unit (CRU) at the National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRDPR).

The tele-workshops are part of UNICEF and its partner's detailed Risk Communication plan, instituted to build the capacities of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI), Self-help Groups (SHG), National Service Scheme (NSS) officials, Faith leaders, Volunteers, and Community Radio Stations (CRS), which are recognized institutions in grassroots engagement.

A total of 2,948 National Service Scheme (NSS) Programme Officers from the three states have been equipped as master trainers, in addition to 873 district resource persons trained from the rural development department of Telangana alone.

The NSS master trainers on their part have helped enrol more than 80,000 NSS volunteers across Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Telangana and many more are being added.

“This has been possible due to CRU, which has emerged as a nodal communications mechanism at a large scale for state governments. Apart from training, it has is supporting on end-to-end technical support for organisations involved in COVID-19 response” said Seema Kumar, UNICEF India C4D Specialist.

With UNICEF’s support, the Communication Resource Unit at NIRDPR developed and shared relevant communication materials: handouts, posters, FAQs, and audio-visual documents to workshop participants, aiding their engagement at the community level.

Dr. Gyanmudra, CRU Director and Head, Centre for Good Governance and Policy Analysis, NIRDPR, said, “The engagement with the participants does not stop after the online trainings. We have built-in a systematic mechanism for follow-up through WhatsApp groups which also allows to respond to queries, share new guidelines and communication tools with different stakeholders. So even through technology, we are trying to sustain a two-way communication and participatory response to COVID-19”

The journey continues for UNICEF and CRU in ensuring a systematic Risk Communications approach to COVID-19 response.