SEPTEMBER 2021 - A cascading WhatsApp communication tree was piloted among 40 member organizations of the Rwandan Civil Society platform and with volunteers from national and subnational levels of the Red Cross Society of Rwanda. The pilot exercise tracking how messages are cascaded was undertaken by the Red Cross-national team of volunteers, who sent out a message to Province – District – Sector – Cell - Village volunteers with clear instructions. Within 10 minutes, the messages had been cascaded and shared across the country by approximately 62,000 volunteers.

In Rwanda, mobile phone penetration stands at 79.8 per cent and smartphone penetration stands at 14.6 per cent. Rapidly growing, messaging applications such as WhatsApp have been frequently used in Rwanda for economic and social benefits. WhatsApp is one of the most powerful communication platforms on the African continent and the use of digital messaging proliferated even more with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the reality of messaging apps offering tools to quickly spread mis- or dis-information, the benefits of leveraging influential digital channels to rapidly share lifesaving information are profound.

UNICEF Rwanda has been supporting the adaptation of WhatsApp trees to increase message dissemination and information coverage, especially on COVID-19. (See Fighting COVID-19 Using WhatsApp Messenger: The Case of Africa | UNU-CRIS and Humanitarian Futures for Messaging Apps: Understanding the Opportunities and Risks for Humanitarian Action to learn more about the use of WhatsAppp trees in such a context.) The focus is was on harnessing the inherent power of the platform via a structured cascading message system. Partnering with the Civil Society platform, umbrella organizations supporting children, youth and women empowerment were invited to and trained on the platform.

Since then, the WhatsApp Tree has been highly appreciated and used as a messaging application to share messages in real time. With over 80 per cent of the country-wide Red Cross volunteers using smartphones this cadre is now using the model to share various information including reports, research findings and programmatic visit updates. WhatsApp is also being used as a tool to address rumors and misconception on COVID-19 vaccines and was recently used to communicate during the volcanic eruption in the western part of the country.

The WhatsApp tree model has become part and parcel of UNICEF Rwanda’s regular partner training package. Approximately 1,000 professionals have been trained on the model with over 70,000 cadres using it in their day-to-day work.

The same cascading information strategy is applied through UNICEF’s partnership with one of the most popular FM Radio station called KISSFM, where the two celebrity radio presenters produce and share edutainment video and audio messages on COVID-19 prevention, vaccine, back to school initiatives, mental health, ECD and parenting tips within the network of Rwandan Journalists operating both in Rwanda and in the diaspora.