Acknowledging but not Leading with COVID-19

By Zipporah Orbisi

FHG Quality Engineer and Consultant

Defining A New Normal in 2021 and Beyond:

Acknowledging but not Leading with COVID-19

The novel Coronavirus continues to be a very real epidemic that has hit many countries very hard. Many of us have lost loved ones amidst this fast-spreading illness, and for that reason, we have seen many of us  band together to show our remarkable collective strength and to assert a renewed belief in human-kind. It's interesting how a virus helped us to realize our likeness, those things we have in common. We truly became a global community. In moments of quarantine, we all longed to be social, we all wished for the health of our loved ones—family and friends. In all the races and creeds of the world none stood superior in immunity to the virus. Yet with all the progress we made, we are still witnessing devastating cultural and civil wars being fought all over the world—from ethnic conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, to cities such as Aleppo and Damascus in the Middle East, to heightened racial tensions in the U.S. 

So what are we missing? 

Now that the world is slowly starting to emerge from the shadow of COVID-19 and reopen, there are several questions around Development that we must consider as we define a new normal in 2021 and beyond:

Photo by Tim Mossholder

Did the pandemic set us back in our  progress with communicating with communities? 

Are we still assuming that the main plight in every neighborhood is still COVID-19? 

Yes, COVID-19 should continue to  rank high on our list of global concerns. And of course we should  take every precaution recommended by the World Health Organisation and Centers for Disease Control to keep from spreading it.

However, the time has come to focus our efforts on rebuilding, and creating true sustainable change for people while preemptively increasing our global preparedness for future epidemics and pandemics. We must continue to trust our medical experts to focus on the COVID-19 crisis, while we do our part to define a new normal that benefits all people.

COVID-19 has done more than infected over 150 million people, including taking the lives of over 3 million people, globally. Over the course of this past year, people in both the Global South and the Global North have experienced harrowing economic effects, while others have more than tripled their net-worth. The gap in quality education widened exponentially as those who do not have access to the internet, did not have access to online-based, remote learning. Even as COVID-19 ravaged populations, neonatal conditions and HIV continued to be amongst the leading causes of death on the continent of Africa (According to a 2020 Statista Report).

We must continue to acknowledge COVID-19 and all its devastating effects. And as we seek to rebuild, one community at a time, we must be mindful that we cannot  lead with COVID-19, which is to say we cannot enter  communities, especially those that may be different from our own, and  make  the virus itself the center of everyone's attention, without first seeking to understand the community’s most urgent needs. 

In addition to impacting the health of individuals and demolishing economies, COVID-19 successfully managed to exacerbate the conditions of those who were already forced to live on the margins. Those who were already “at risk” faced even greater risk. The people “at-risk” were not simply the older population or those with pre-existing conditions. Everyone who has not been afforded the opportunity to create meaningful change for themselves and their community are “at risk”. Those who are vulnerable. Those who have been marginalized and underserved. Those who are often rendered invisible by the dominant society. These people still matter. And their plight is a serious one. Even after COVID-19 officially passes, their situation will continue to be a matter of life and death, the difference between mere survival and the opportunity to thrive.  

Rebuilding, defining a new normal once more, requires setting an agenda. But let us not fall back into the old habit of creating community, global and political agendas that only benefit the privileged few. Let us commit to the inclusion and well-being of every person. Let us first listen. Let us first seek to understand. Only then can we begin to offer true assistance and benefit people using our complementary areas of knowledge. It’s time to dream up and create a new normal, a better world, one that benefits us all. 

Communication for Social Change: The Key to Sustainable Development

By Zipporah Orbisi

FHG Quality Engineer and Consultant

What is Communicating for Social Change?

How does a person create the narrative that will help bring about world peace, and more importantly, who will share the story?

At the turn of the millennium the UN brought together 191 countries to come up with a 15 year plan to conquer 8 global objectives called the Millennium Developmental Goals (MDG’s). However, it was understood that these goals were only one part of the solution to creating positive community development across the world. The key to implementing these changes is in the power of communication for social change.

Communicating for social change is assisting individuals and communities in defining their needs to accelerate their prosperity on their terms.

Battle Plan for Sustainable Community Development

As we endeavor to conquer humanitarian crises such as world poverty and wide-spread famine, we must first go through a communication boot camp.

You must begin with engaging your frontline stakeholders in the communities. The people who will be the vessels directly assisting in bringing forth change.

From there, be sure to incorporate all stakeholders and policymakers on common and cohesive grounds for increased social mobilization.

Having that foundational path in development communication will assist with the propagation of change, allowing for long term sustainability.

A Victory Within Reach

So ultimately how will we know if the “communication” is working?

We must measure our efforts through Social Accountability. Finding a means to quantify the efforts—from policymaker to individual—will help to keep progression constant. Communication can be quantified by things such as the number of public information campaigns, platforms for public dialogue and debate, social audits, and feedback loops from citizens to policymakers.

Social accountability provides a societal system of checks and balances which can inform restructuring objectives and laying the foundation for future goal setting.

At the end of 2015, the UN took a look at its 15 year plan results to find an overwhelming success of statistical progression in each of the 8 MDG categories. Extreme poverty was down 33%, literacy rates for children soared to 91%, women now make up 41% of paid workers outside of agriculture, and there were many more fantastical statistics to share.

What I find to be most impressive is the acceptance from local communities to not only drive the change but also push for more results.

The United Nations decided to enter into another 15 year venture, ending in 2030, in effort to achieve 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“The seventeen Sustainable Development Goals are our shared vision of humanity and a social contract between the world's leaders and the people,” said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Together, with individuals in communities leading the efforts, will be the only way to contend with twice the number of original goals.

Together, using communication for social change, we will continue to knock down historical doors of aggrievance and replace them with pathways to world peace.