To ensure that countries in Europe are better prepared for future emergencies, a five-day capacity building programme was conducted involving the WHO Regional Office for Europe's Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) school and a full-scale simulation exercise (SimEx).
The exercise was organised by the WHO Regional Office for Europe (EURO), together with the WHO European Centre for Preparedness for Humanitarian and Health Emergencies in Istanbul, Türkiye.
The capacity building package used a ten-step approach based on the latest experiences from the COVID-19 pandemic and a full-scale field exercise. Countries benefited from being able to develop a multi-hazard RCCE plan, which can also support influenza preparedness.
Risk communication planning
The event was attended by 45 communication specialists from regional health ministries, the Turkish Red Crescent and WHO Country Offices. EURO provided experts from fields such as media, risk communication, infodemic management, and community engagement to guide participants through the ten step approach.
To facilitate planning, participants were introduced to the new RCCE Capacity Building Platform, which will be fully released in 2023. The platform utilizes interactive tools and an extensive library of supporting materials to create strategic and tactical emergency communication plans. Key training components include identifying stakeholders, creating key messages, and monitoring implementation of emergency plans.
Mikhail Okoliyski from the WHO Country Office in Bulgaria shared: "During the five days we learned a lot about strategic development of risk communication plans under the guidance of experienced supervisors. I enjoyed the human and professional cohesion in our team and am proud of our joint efforts to draft targeted messages to journalists, representatives of local and religious communities and local authorities."
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A full-scale emergency simulation
After the participants completed their activities in the training room, a full-scale simulation exercise (SimEx) began. Participants were made to sleep in tents in a fictional city undergoing a fast-moving emergency - both applying their new skills and experiencing the challenges of a real emergency.
The fictional city was equipped with a marketplace, a religious building, and a media zone, and was populated by actors playing concerned, and in some cases angry, citizens, religious leaders, and inquisitive journalists.
This world was created to test participants' knowledge of emergency risk communication procedures, as well as their flexibility, personal communication skills and cultural sensitivity
"It was a wonderful experience for me. I usually attend this kind of training and get the theoretical background, but never had the chance to implement what I learned right on the spot," says Mahir Boydak, a participant from the Turkish Red Crescent.
Next steps
Later this year, WHO will release the RCCE Capacity Building Platform, and will organize a series of workshops to support Member State capacity-building efforts to implement RCCE approaches.
