Sunoor Verma is a senior international development specialist in strategic planning, strategic and risk communications and strategic partnerships. His work experience includes advisory work for the World Health Organisation, UNHCR, UNICEF, European Centre for Minority Issues, Cambridge University, University of Geneva and Boston University. Most recently, he consulted WHO-Geneva on developing their Risk Communication Strategy for Pandemic influenza. Roshan S Nepal of The Himalayan Times caught up with Verma to talk about the importance of crisis communication in this time of COVID-19 pandemic. Excerpts:
What should the roles of government, private sector and the general public be in terms of crisis communication?
Crisis communication is very different from regular communication. This is because the way people perceive threat, process information and react to information is very different from that of the regular scenario.
The other challenge we face in the globally connected media is that we are watching what is happening in developed countries. Suddenly our own expectations from our own governments become unrealistically high. But we have to realise our own context and manage our expectations in that context.
Governments need to see that people expect information quickly to make themselves and their close ones safe. Second, they want reliable information. Third, they want information they can turn into action for themselves so that they can take their safety into their own hands.
The people need reliable information from governments and governments need collaboration and cooperation from the people. These two elements need to be in harmony. For that to happen, there needs to be a single source of information that is trusted. In the case of this epidemic, the official government mechanism and the World Health Organisation are the only two sources from where we take information.
Then there’s the role of leaders in other sectors. Leaders do not only mean elected leaders. We are looking at leadership from all sectors — within the private sector, within the faith sector, within the community sector.
For example, if I am a shopkeeper in Kathmandu, I should not expect the government or WHO to come up with a protocol on how to maintain social distancing at the shop. Shopkeepers, or their associations, should decide how we manage social distancing at shops.
Also, videos on how to wash hands are coming from developed countries showing people washing hands for 30 seconds under running water. Where do we get running water in Nepal? Our reality is a mug of water. We need a video on how to wash our hands with a mug of water for 30 seconds. This is not something we expect the government or the WHO to come up with. There are so many creators, You Tube stars and influencers. They can make their 30-second video.
It should be clear there’s no individual exit from this. The only way we can exit from this is collective action. So this is the first time, I think, we are facing a crisis where it does not matter whether you are rich or poor; literate or illiterate; male or female; Hindu or Muslim or Buddhist.
Your survival depends on your neighbour. This is a massive equaliser. So crisis communication needs to be very quickly mastered by leaders in all spheres of lives.
How can the private sector, which has yet to come out of its closet in Nepal, contribute to addressing this crisis?
It is very important for the private sector to step up to see what the government is doing and immediately come up with offers of action and support. This is not the time to negotiate product placement or visibility or brand logo, etc. This is the time for the private sector to come together, most effectively through their associations. That way the interests are not competing within companies or brands. It’s an industry coming together.
For example, an industry of manufacturers comes together. See what the government is doing. See what’s messaging and think on their own on how they can take the message forward into areas they have influence. How they can multiply and amplify the message and make it more understandable for their constituents. They must also start thinking of scenarios in future planning. At the moment, we are all thinking about the crisis. We are not thinking after the crisis.
The moment the private sector starts helping out, the government will also probably ask the private sector for things they could do. For example, Airbus and Rolls Royce are presently not manufactu
Read the full story on The Himalayan Times
The post ‘Collective action needed to exit from COVID-19 crisis’ appeared on Nepal123.com.
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