In collaboration with the agricultural holding Astarta and the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, our agency's team developed a practical communication guide for the Resilience Program, designed for use by local communities.
The Resilience Program is a pilot project of the Ministry of Social Policy within the framework of the All-Ukrainian Mental Health Program “How Are You?” initiated by First Lady Olena Zelenska.
Challenge
– Staff implementing the Program in communities often lack experience carrying out communication activities or establishing systematic communication with target audiences.
– We aimed to provide local workers with simple, practical tools to help them understand who and how to communicate key information about the Resilience Program in their communities.
Approach
During the guide’s development, the team used the analysis of the needs of target groups among vulnerable populations in Ukraine. We also relied on the practical experience of social service providers in certain communities, our long-standing expertise, and research from other organizations.
We aimed to simplify the presentation of information in the guide as much as possible, ensuring that the recommended tools and guidelines could be easily implemented by colleagues with varying communication experience.
The guide offers:
1) Four simple steps to establish effective, systematic information sharing and community engagement with Resilience Centers;
2) A crisis response approach and recommendations on how to address myths and biases about psychological assistance, social services, and more;
3) A six-month communication activity plan beginning the launch of Resilience Centers in communities;
4) Useful appendices, including templates for frequently asked questions, a checklist for barrier-free communication, a checklist for preparing an open-house event at a Resilience Center, sample website news articles, and social media posts.
Results
We presented the guide during two events (an online workshop and an offline session) attended by over 150 social service providers from various communities.
The guide is available on the Ministry of Social Policy’s website.
