Identify and Implement Community Mobilization Activities
Community mobilization involves engaging community members to participate actively in defining the problems that affect them and generating solutions. As discussed previously in this Unit, entering the community is the first step of community mobilization. Once initial contact has been made and key concerns have been explored, a range of community-based activities can be used to raise awareness, encourage reflection, improve self-efficacy and promote behavior change.
In this Unit we outline five channels linked to community mobilization and recommended when developing activities. These five channels are: radio, large-scale community-based activities, interpersonal communication, community-based surveillance and mobile phone technology.
Each of these channels is in the Unit 7 Communication Channel Quick Reference. For each channel, the advantages and disadvantages are listed, as well as a series of tips on when and how to use it.
Once your team of mobilizers and spokespeople is in place, ensure you develop a plan on what messages they will need to deliver and how, as the emergency unfolds and how these should be delivered. This will not only ensure that mobilizers and spokespeople relay correct information, it will also allow your program to harmonize messages and to monitor if these are being delivered as planned.
See a detailed description of how the various communication channels can be used for community mobilization. You will find a list of different community mobilization activities under each of these five channels.
Any campaign needs to make use of a variety of communication channels to reinforce messages at multiple levels and increase the likelihood that messages are being heard and understood.