Updated October 2026: this post was first published in April 2020 to share the webinar materials. We have expanded it with a summary drawn from the presentations and key takeaways.
When COVID-19 reached East Africa, displacement-affected communities faced the virus with crowded living conditions, limited services and, often, little reliable information. How agencies communicated would shape whether people trusted the response at all. On 9 April 2020, we hosted a webinar on how to communicate with and protect displacement-affected communities during the COVID-19 response in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. It looked at lessons from the Ebola response, how to communicate effectively and address fears, misinformation and stigma, and how to support community-led action and protection.
Lessons from Ebola
Speaking from the Red Cross response in eastern DRC, the IFRC stressed that epidemics start and end in communities, which should be treated as partners. Trust decides whether people follow advice, allow access or seek treatment. The IFRC reported that refusals of safe and dignified burials fell from 79 percent at the start of the response to 8 percent, and that around 850 volunteers ran a feedback mechanism that collected more than 550,000 comments. Moto-taxi drivers, initially a source of rumours, were trained as mobilisers. The People First Impact Method added that communities should be engaged through two-way dialogue, with honest, simple communication and support for community-led action, drawing on consultations in Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia.
Communicating in camps and cities
The Kenya Red Cross described rumours among refugees, including that thermometers would be used to register people or that anyone with a fever would be forcibly quarantined. Its approach was to collect rumours continuously, answer them directly with simple messages, and work through community and religious leaders, who carry more influence than administrative authorities. Africa’s Voices Foundation shared findings from interactive radio in Somalia: of about 51,000 people sent a question, 7,747 responded. Displaced respondents were more likely than host community members to send messages containing misinformation, and religion was the dominant frame through which people discussed the virus.
Protection and community structures
DRC framed protection around information, programming and advocacy: sharing consistent information through trusted local sources, monitoring risks such as gender-based violence, child separation and trafficking, and advocating against detention, forced returns and denial of asylum. The BRCiS consortium in Somalia, led by NRC since 2013 with six international and three local NGOs and working with more than 500 communities, described community committees and health workers trained in risk communication, alongside livelihood support and safety nets for more than 50,000 registered households. ReDSS called for engaging communities from the start, building on existing coordination structures, and supporting government-led strategies that include internally displaced people.
Key takeaways
Participants agreed on a set of lessons: listen to communities and treat them with respect; prioritise the quality of information over its quantity, since competing messages erode trust; tailor clear messages to each audience and work with elders, religious leaders and different social groups; anticipate stigma and misinformation within and against displaced communities; use flexible community action plans that address the socio-economic impact as well as the health crisis; treat information as a right; scale up protection monitoring; and identify the most vulnerable, including those who have lost social networks or remittances. See also our COVID-19 adaptation plan and policy brief, published later that month.
Read the compiled presentations and the key takeaways.
References
ReDSS (2020). How to effectively communicate and protect displacement-affected communities during the COVID-19 emergency response in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia: compiled presentations. Webinar, 9 April 2020. https://www.regionaldss.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Final-Compiled-presentation-webinar-how-to-engage-and-protect-DAC.pdf
ReDSS (2020). Key takeaways from the ReDSS webinar on community engagement and protection of displacement-affected communities. https://www.regionaldss.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Key-takeways-from-ReDSS-webinar-on-community-engagement-protection-of-DAC.pdf
