The good practice case studies on youth engagement and leadership in COVID-19 response showcase how young people and youth-led organizations worldwide have been at the forefront of responding to the needs of their communities throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
These case studies from Micronesia, Bangladesh, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Jordan, Australia, and the Asia South-Pacific region, demonstrate good practices by youth-oriented organizations and networks in risk communication and community engagement (RCCE). The meaningful engagement of young people at their community level and the promotion of their leadership for their sustained engagement are two key and distinct actions that were witnessed when tackling issues in communities.
As examples, they aim to be a resource for organizations to implement good practices when working with young people. This includes youth engagement and youth empowerment as essential parts of coordination that contribute to the prevention, preparedness, and response to future public health emergencies.
The good practices include Case Study 1: UNICEF Pacific supports Micronesia Red Cross Society (MRCS) youths in the fight against COVID-19 in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) – Micronesia Red Cross Society and UNICEF Pacific, Federated States of Micronesia; Case Study 2: Young Women Raise-Awareness and Generate Income in Combating COVID-19 – BINDU Women Development / BINDU Nari Unnayan Sangatha and UN WOMEN Bangladesh; Case Study 3: Youth-Led Risk Communication and Outreach for Rural Communities – Young Urban Women’s Movement, Ghana; Case Study 4: Adolescent Girls’ Empowerment Leading to Outreach for COVID-19 Awareness – UNICEF Guinea-Bissau; Case Study 5: Youth Leadership Skills and Economic Empowerment Amidst the COVID Crisis – Dar Abu Abdallah (DAA) and UNICEF Jordan, Jordan; Case Study 6: ‘Day in the Life’ Video Series of Young People During the Pandemic – Multicultural Youth Advocacy Network (MYAN), Australia; Case Study 7: Youth-led Action Research on the Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Marginalized Youth, Asia South-Pacific Association for Basic and Adult Education (ASPBAE).
The design of the interventions emphasized participation, skills building, and local-level partnerships. Training on COVID-19 health information as well as on appropriate communication and outreach strategies, contributed to the effective implementation of RCCE. This, in turn, contributed to the personal and professional development of the youth and allowed for their recognition by the community.
These case studies demonstrate the importance of stakeholder engagement and building partnerships as key strategies, and they showcase a wide variety of risk communication activities such as the production and dissemination of materials, interpersonal communication at te community level such as house-to-house awareness-raising, demonstrations, and community dialogues, and the use of radio and online communication channels. The case studies offer useful insights into RCCE methods, such as the importance of encouraging community participation in awareness-raising efforts and in utilizing social listening and localized approaches. They also show the linkages between Social and Behavior Change (SBC) approaches driven by youth leadership and engagement that include community mobilization, policy influence, systems strengthening, and improving service access.
The case studies have been selected by the Youth Engagement Subgroup YES! of the Collective Service (UNICEF, WHO, IFRC, GOARN) as an initiative of UNICEF, UNAIDS, and the Collective Helpdesk with the support of UN WOMEN and the Compact for Young People in Humanitarian Action, as part of an open call for good practices to document, analyze, and promote youth engagement and youth leadership across countries and regions.
This brief is a rapid synthesis of socio-behavioural evidence relating to the 2022 cholera outbreak in Malawi intended for national and international response partners. It focuses on interpreting this evidence to inform the design and delivery of effective communication and engagement strategies putting communities at the centre of the response.
YES!– the Collective Service’s Youth Engagement subgroup, would like to invite you to a global webinar showcasing the winning good practices on Youth Engagement and Leadership in COVID-19 response, from the open call launched last summer.
Learn about inspiring experiences by practitioners on the ground from across the globe, compiled and promoted by UNICEF,UNAIDS and theCollective Helpdesk, with the support of UN WOMEN and theCompact for Young People in Humanitarian Action, to contribute to the inclusion of young people and youth leadership as a part of coordination and response to future public health emergencies and humanitarian crises.
The one-hour session on 20 October began with introductions for thematic leads and contributing organizations of the Collective Helpdesk to get to know one another. Following that, an overview of questions, testimonies and quarter 3 numbers were provided. The second half of the session was spent listening to and discussing the challenges faced by media practitioners in getting access to technical support at the country level.
Highlights:
Some of the key takeaways from the discussion included the need to identify strong networks and technical working groups in the countries and regions and connecting media practitioners to them for timely and accurate information about an outbreak.
At the global level there would be limitations in supporting with the needs on-ground, but a quick mapping of networks or experts can be a great start for information sharing. The community was encouraged to keep these challenges from the media in consideration when creating guidelines and documents
Coaching and mentoring opportunity:
The CoP invited Common Thread to present an exciting mentoring opportunity through their new Call for Change in Kenya. Common Thread is seeking experts who are available to coach and mentor local organizations that are working on strengthening the country’s health system. The flexible opportunities for mentoring include:
Virtual introduction of potential mentors during the workshop on 8 November (if possible or through an email introduction or directory)
Coaching support during the Request for Proposal preparations
Supporting the selection of the proposals
Coaching for winning proposals starting January 2023
An ongoing outbreak of monkeypox was confirmed on 6 May 2022, beginning with a British resident who, after travelling to Nigeria (where the disease is endemic), presented symptoms consistent with monkeypox on 29 April 2022. The resident returned to the United Kingdom on 4 May, creating the country’s index case of the outbreak.
The epidemic has since spread and as of 19 of October 2022, there are 109 affected countries according to WHO.
In the past five months since the beginning of the epidemic, a number of reports surveying population behaviour changes have been published. As of mid October 2022, we have identified 21 – published mainly in August and September 2022.
Indicator Coverage
The four most frequently available indicators are: 1) risk perception, 2) vaccine willingness, 3) knowledge of transmission routes and symptoms, and 4) adoption of preventative measures.
Vaccine Willingness
Available surveys seem to show a higher willingness among currently exposed populations (LGBTQ+ community, men who have sex with men or MSM, healthcare workers).
Risk Perception
Similarly, the perception of risk (how likely respondents think they are to catch the disease) is higher among currently exposed populations – with the noticeable exception of MSM living with HIV which display a risk perception closer to that of the overall population. The latter finding is potentially a result of a population group already focused on preventative measures.
Knowledge
When collecting information about knowledge of this disease, we concentrate on the main symptoms (e.g. rash, fever, aches, swollen lymph nodes) and transmission routes (e.g. direct/indirect contact, sexual intercourse). These questions, however, do not seem to be asked to currently exposed populations (to a smaller extent they have been asked of HCWs).
Socio-behavioural surveys: accessible by clicking on each data point on the above graphs
Method
The researches for this socio-behavioural survey were run between October 14th and 21st, in English and French-languages and as open access publications for everyone, from around the world.
Search queries – such as “monkeypox social behaviour studies”, “monkeypox KAPs studies”, “monkeypox perception survey” with keywords such as “knowledge”, “vaccine”, “stigmatisation”, “sexual behaviours”, “men having sex with men”, “MSM ”, “LGBT” – were used to locate relevant studies.
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07MAY
Community Protection Partners Meeting: communities at the center of managing health emergencies
12:00 – 16:00 CET
In 2023, WHO Member States endorsed a proposal from the WHO Director General for a strengthened Health Emergency Preparedness, Response and Resilience (HEPR) global architecture. Community Protection is a core part of this framework. Delivering community protection means putting people and communities that are affected by an emergency at the centre of decisions and actions aimed at protecting their health and well-being. It covers three integrated areas of work:
1. Technical approaches that involve and engage with those affected, including community engagement, risk communication and infodemic management to guide priority actions and strengthen community resilience.
2. Population and environmental public health interventions to control outbreaks and mitigate their effects on the health of those affected.
3. Multisectoral action to account for and mitigate social and economic impacts of emergencies and their responses.
Hosted by the Community Readiness and Resilience Unit, Country Readiness Strengthening Department of WHO Health Emergency Program, this event will bring together global to local networks of multilateral organisations, partner agencies, civil society organizations and others that work with communities that are at-risk of or affected by public health emergencies. Through a series of presentation and moderated panel discussions, this meeting will
– Review good practice and progress to date on advancing community-centred health emergency management as enabled by diverse stakeholders across the ecosystem of partners and other agencies that deliver on this agenda.
– Review good practice, challenges, and key actions for advancing community protection.
– Discuss modalities for collaboration and partnership and strengthen the network of networks for community protection.
A key outcome is to define progress, gaps, and priorities for action in delivering strengthened community protection outcomes.
