Raising COVID-19 Vaccine Awareness Project in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states
June 2022 – March 2023 (10 months)
The purpose of this project is to dispel misinformation and rumors around COVID-19 and the vaccines, by establishing two-way communication, and by collecting community perspectives, questions and concerns around the pandemic and vaccines. The project aims to respond to communities’ COVID-19 information needs, while effectively raising community awareness on the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic and the importance of vaccinations and promoting coordinated assistance to peripheral and marginalized communities.
Overall Project Goals
The Rooted in Trust COVID-19 project aims to disrupt and mitigate the flow of misleading, inaccurate or malign information around the pandemic and the COVID-19 vaccines for vulnerable populations affected by humanitarian crises.
Objective
The purpose of this project is to dispel misinformation and rumors around COVID-19 and the vaccines, by establishing two-way communication, and by collecting community perspectives, questions and concerns around the pandemic and vaccines. The project aims to respond to communities’ COVID-19 information needs, while effectively raising community awareness on the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic and the importance of vaccinations and promoting coordinated assistance to peripheral and marginalized communities.
Activities completed during the project period:
1/ Training workshop for project team on how to organize Listening groups
2/ Training workshops for selected groups to implement listening groups in Blue Nile and South Kordofan states
3/ In BN & SK 80 listening groups were carried out
4/ Implementation of 40 banners
5/ Implementation of 34 murals
6/ Producing 3 songs
7/ Producing 6 dramatic works
8/ Conducting 10 interviews
9/ Producing 12 awareness messages
10/ Carrying out 22 theatrical performances
Observed results
Result 1: Local communities interacted with the listening sessions, and the idea and method of the session itself and how to listen to each other were transferred to their local sessions in markets and private gathering places.
Result 2: Local communities responded to street theater and expressed a clear desire to receive vaccines
Officials of health services centers in the two states also confirmed the increased demand for vaccination after the theatrical show
Result 3: Local communities’ attention to the danger of rumors and the importance of confronting them:
There are many discussions between individuals and small groups about the nature of rumors, which is one of the topics that were not included in their discussions previously, according to what
Some young people said that they were discussing what rumors had done to their local communities, especially those strife that led to the loss of many lives.
It was also noted in the cofee sessions that there was disdain for rumors about vaccines and their effects
Success Story 1:
Dealing with listening sessions to analyze societal issues
The methodology for receiving and confronting rumors that data collectors were trained on, to be used in (listening sessions), to monitor rumors about vaccines for Covid-19 helped empower young people with ways to analyze and classify rumors and thus how to deal with them and fight them. For example, this was used This method was exceptionally effective in Blue Nile State when the state witnessed widespread societal violence. The methodology was used to differentiate between rumors, reliable and objective information, and ways to receive correct information. The effects of those sessions became clear when many members of society began to engage in frequent conversations about rumors and ask informed questions (How? When? Where? Who? What? Why? What?…etc.),
Success Story 2:
The impact of street theater in moving local communities towards receiving the vaccine: Interactive street theater came out to areas where interactive theater had never happened before, according to the words of one of the leaders of the local administration. Which made them ask the project management to convey their desire to receive vaccines to the Immunization Department of the Ministry of Health. The request was delivered and their request was responded to. The result proved that interactive street theater created a real opportunity to increase cooperation, partnership, and integration of roles between communities and service providers, including developing the ability of the local community to hold governments accountable in order to ensure the flow of services to all citizens throughout the two states.
