Niger Scouts lead action against COVID-19

Niger Scouts, in partnership with UNICEF, have launched a public awareness campaign dubbed "Niger's Youth Taking Action Against COVID-19”. The campaign supports the government measures and aims to combat the spread of the epidemic through mass awareness-raising in urban and rural populations, which have continued to rise, with more than 800 infections registered and 43 deaths during May.

The ambitious campaign, which also advocates for good hygiene and sanitation, aims to reach 630,000 households, or 4,410,000 people across the country thanks to the assistance of 1750 volunteers, most of whom are Scouts. The volunteers are divided into pairs with each targeting to reach 800 households. In each region, a steering committee coordinated by the Scouts of Niger oversees the implementation of activities for an initial period of four months, including a post-COVID-19 stage for better sustainability of achievements and lessons learnt.

The Scouts have established Watch Committees to help to coordinate the awareness activities and coordinate training of Scouts and other youth volunteers, including learning about the measures they must each take to protect themselves when undertaking the campaign. They then work in their neighbourhoods to inform people about the virus, its symptoms and the protective measures to adopt. The training they’ve each received means they are well equipped to respond to most of the questions asked by the communities they work with, but in cases where they're unable to effectively respond to questions, they refer them to local doctors or other more qualified medical personnel. The Scouts explain what COVID-19 is, how it manifests, modes of transmission, means of prevention and what to do in the presence of people showing signs of infection, or when they suspect they may be infected. They also use videos, infographics and audio clips to promote good COVID-19 practices via social media and collect and feedback data on households reached to help with monitoring and tracking the progress of the campaign.

A platform www.muryarmatassa.org has been developed by UNICEF Niger to report COVID-19 cases, share good practices and advice collected by volunteers in the field to support the building of community knowledge hub. This community-based disease surveillance allows community members to identify diseases early and inform medical personnel to facilitate rapid response to prevent further spread of the disease within the community.

Apart from the awareness component, the Scouts of Niger are responsible for supervising the establishment and training of Community Watch Committees, but also the operationalisation of neighbourhood teams through the distribution of protective items to combat COVID-19 such as face masks and hand washing equipment, with the support of religious leaders.

Keep up to date with Scout actions responding to COVID-19 on this dedicated webpage: scout.org/covid19

Text based on original article by World Scout Bureau Africa Support Centre, Nairobi.