The COVID-19 pandemic has seen an unprecedented increase in the use of social listening methodologies for humanitarian and health response, Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) and infodemic management.

This increased attention has resulted in a variety of social listening outputs that are produced by humanitarian and health organizations and disseminated in various Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) spaces at the national, regional, and global level. However, there is a gap in evidence when it comes the actual impacts of its utilization.

In this event, Internews will present the main findings of a research aimed at identifying the impacts of, and barriers to, the effective use of social listening data in the COVID-19 response. A discussion with guest speakers will follow on recommendations and ways forward to mitigate the obstacles faced and ensure more effective and community-led responses. Guest speakers include representatives from the African Infodemic Response Alliance, Ground Truth Solutions and IFRC.

Panelists:

• Alejandro Posada, Social Scientist, Internews
• Elodie Ho, Coordinator, African Infodemic Response Alliance
• Rieke Vingerling, Project Coordinator, Ground Truth Solutions
• Matheus Bizarria da Silva Souza, IFRC
• Moderated by Rocío López, Community Engagement and Accountability Advisor, Internews.