COVID Digital KICK
(Knowledge Information Content Kiosk) for South Asia
The South Asian region is has now become the epicenter of the Coronavirus pandemic with the virus raging in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. South Asia consists of a large segment of impoverished population among whom awareness about the coronavirus pandemic is littered with a plethora of rumors and misinformation. This hamstrings the efforts of the governments and other multilateral agencies in their initiatives towards ensuring that mass people follow proper quarantine and hygiene measures which is absolutely crucial towards stemming the spread of this pandemic. Governments and multilateral initiatives need to be supported through interventions from all agencies from their own capacities to “flatten the curve” through mass awareness. Given this unprecedented situation, this is a critical time to spread mass information, awareness, and advocacy campaigns through social media platforms, where mass people are expected to spend a significant time during their isolation period.
IPAG, in partnership with and support from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada – one of the world’s largest funders of research on global development has undertaken Phase III of its awareness campaign with the project: COVID Digital KICK (Knowledge & Information Content Kiosk for) South Asia. The project will study and analyze COVID 19 related information affecting the region and then disseminate information among and raise awareness of the 1.8 billion people residing in this region to make them better informed and well equipped to respond to this pandemic. The contents will be customized according to particular South Asian locations and then shared and promoted across multiple social media channels and languages. The contents will be developed in 13 of the most common languages in the 8 South Asian countries to ensure that the contents reach the intended audience in mediums that they understand.
South Asia has around 350 million active social media users throughout various platforms including Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, Tiktok etc. Studies have shown that the ongoing lockdown in all the countries have caused people to use more social media, and use it as their primary source of information as they lack access to other people. Based on the developed content, IPAG will identify relevant locations and promote the contents to these locations.
Part I: COVID-19 Community Resiliency in South Asia
Part II: COVID-19 & Mental Health
Part III: COVID 19 & Gender-Based Violence (GBV)
Part IV: COVID-19 & Productivity during Lockdown