On 27 March 2020, dozens of communication professionals joined in from Africa, Europe and the US to attend the ‘special Covid-19’ Q&A session organized on WhatsApp by AfricaCommsWeek. The very lively discussions revolved around 5 questions: What is the n°1 communication challenge your country is facing right now?

  1. Do you have any examples of ongoing campaigns or tactics that are:
    – Gender specific
    – Youth specific
    – Urban/rural specific
  2. Can you share best practices on internal/employee communication?
  3. Examples of how to tackle misinformation and fake news?
  4. What is the best crisis communication toolkit you’ve seen so far?

Thanks again to all participants for their very insightful contributions!

Based on their input, a specific Covid-19 taskforce was put together, identified 5 clusters to focus on and delivered a series of guidelines and recommendations which we have shared in a series of articles on our blog

Are you developing Covid-19 communication strategies tailored to African contexts? Read on.

If there are many communication guidelines available, only a few are region-specific and address health crises in Africa. Helping African organizations navigate through these challenging times, whether they are governmental, public, or private organizations that is the mission ACW set to itself. How as a network of highly-experienced communication, PR, Marketing, Media relations consultants can we leverage the full breadth of our expertise and expert knowledge to guide local entities if not help them accelerate the implementation of efficient and relevant crisis responses to build a protective shield, enhance their economic and social resilience?

The ACW taskforce aims to develop recommendations and guidelines for businesses, governments and civil society to promote a Covid-19 response tailored to African realities and challenges.

The guidelines cover 5 key areas of work:

  • Crisis communication
  • Employee communication
  • Communication towards rural, low income and underserved communities
  • Fake news and misinformation
  • Economic impact of coronavirus in Africa

Taskforce members include:

Sophie Masipa (South Africa)

Stéphanie De Lima (Angola/France)

Madimba Kadima (DRC)

Taniatou Olafemiwa (Benin)

Emmanuel Dabo (Ivory Coast)

Kwame Senou (Senegal)

Meodi Mothapo (South Africa)

Malesela Maubane (South Africa)

If you wish to join our WhatsApp group, contact us at info[at]africacommunicationsweek.com