September 2022 — To address all the rumours and misconceptions related to COVID-19 and equip the population with the information they need about the COVID-19 virus and the vaccines, UNICEF Rwanda, in partnership with the Rwanda Red Cross Society (RRCS), launched a project from July 2020 to December 2021 to establish a community-level feedback data collection and rumour tracking mechanism across the country.

UNICEF and RRCS jointly developed a COVID-19 community engagement module to facilitate the capacity strengthening of 416 RRCS volunteers in the following areas: 1. Key information about COVID-19; 2. Interpersonal communication skills and community engagement; 3. Ways to obtain and address feedback from the community members; 4. Detecting, tracking and reporting rumours; and 5. Addressing stigma related to COVID-19. This volunteer activity was facilitated by a team of staff at RRCS. 60 district-based volunteers (2 volunteers per district) were trained as trainers of trainers (ToT) for cascading training and supervising sector-based volunteers, working hand in hand with the RRCS district Coordination Team.

Through RRCS’ network of community volunteers, UNICEF and RRCS established a community-level feedback data collection and rumour tracking mechanism. With a megaphone and a KOBO-enabled smartphone for data collection, 416 volunteers at the sector level spread the COVID-19 prevention messaging and used the feedback form and rumour tracking form to collect information about the virus and vaccine from households once every two weeks. The findings were regularly shared and analyzed at local and national levels with key stakeholders including UNICEF and Rwanda Health Communication Centre (RHCC), and used for evidence-based planning on addressing these myths and misconceptions by tailoring the messaging to targeted groups in their language.

UNICEF and RRCS, in cooperation with the Ministry of Health, local authorities and influencers, leveraged radio stations for the production and airing of a weekly 30-minute radio show with the call-in feature. 15 minutes of each radio show were allocated for discussions of critical issues in the context of COVID-19 with health experts and experts from other sectors such as WASH, Education and Child Protection, etc. The remaining 15 minutes were given for questions and answers with the listeners to ensure two-way communications and address community feedback and track rumours and misconceptions with regards to COVID-19.

The data collected through the RRCS mechanism was complimented by 3 rounds of Community Rapid Assessment exercise (3,045 respondents in total) using the Behavioural and Social Drivers model done with VIAMO between December 2020 and June 2021. Across survey rounds, although rumours and misconceptions about COVID-19 persist, there is an increase in knowledge of COVID-19, and trust in the COVID-19 vaccine grew from 60% in December 2020 to 88.7% by June 2021.