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Publication date: August 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted social, economic and political lives all around the world. Somalia's weakened public health-care system, widespread poverty and instability, and low levels of good hygiene practices among the general population left its people particularly vulnerable to the epidemic.

´óÏó´«Ã½ Media Action, funded by the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office through Unilever, ran communication campaigns in Afghanistan and Somalia between October 2020 and March 2021 - encouraging people to follow preventive behaviours to help reduce the chance of contracting and spreading the coronavirus.

In Somalia 10 audio public service announcements (PSAs) were broadcast on national and local radio featuring a witty character called Captain Suleiman, a radio DJ who encouraged uptake of preventative behaviours while responding to listeners troubles in an ‘agony aunt’ style format. Eight stand-alone video PSAs were also distributed on TV and social media, produced in a variety of styles and featuring different characters including a caring grandson, a poet, an imam and a visually challenged TV anchor.

The survey has shown that approximately 3.9 million adults either watched or listened to at least one of the PSAs (46% of the Somali adult population).

Our formative research and pre-testing of media content identified structural and cultural barriers that people faced when trying to protect themselves against COVID-19. For example, the main barriers to handwashing reported across both countries included lack of access to soap and clean running water. People were often more concerned about the impact of poverty and unemployment, conflict and the threat of violence on their families than they were about COVID-19.

This research informed development of media content in both countries as understanding audiences' values and what engages and motivates them is key to producing effective communication.

To read more about the research in Somalia please see our reports above.