New communication for development campaigns in progress in Central America, in the context of COVID-19

 
El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras
9 July, 2020

Between 25 June and 2 July 2020, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) carried out 6 virtual workshops with more than 160 local partners from El Salvador (San Salvador, Ahuachapán), Guatemala (Salcajá, San Marcos) and Honduras (Cofradía, El Progreso). In these communities, the participatory creation of a Communication for Development (C4D) campaign was initiated jointly by the three countries, focused on building the capacity of young people to recognize offers and false information in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The activities provided a space to share and discuss the results of more than 1,700 baseline surveys and a digital survey with more than 400 young people.  

  

"This exchange was innovative and inclusive, with a comprehensive vision towards the prevention of irregular migration. It is important that young people have the tools to identify false offers and their behavior will evolve," said Fabiolla Rodríguez of the Specialized Unit for Children and Adolescents of the Attorney General's Office of El Salvador.   

  

IOM has previously worked on C4D campaigns in these countries, with the aim of promoting positive behavioral changes in the youth population. For example, the 2019 campaigns promoted informed decision-making on alternatives to irregular migration, such as local development opportunities and regular migration options. In February 2020, three new baseline surveys were conducted with over 1,700 surveys in 6 key communities, the results of which confirmed the relevance of further work on this approach.   

  

However, given the impact of COVID-19 on communities, in May 2020 IOM conducted additional digital surveys with over 400 young people in the countries of northern Central America, to determine how the pandemic has affected their life plans and migration-related decision-making.   

  

The results show that the uncertainty related to the crisis increases the risk of young people falling into false offers related to fraud, exploitation, trafficking in persons or smuggling of migrants. Furthermore, their knowledge and tools for recognizing reliable information sources were identified as very weak, so the tri-national campaign will strongly target this objective.   

  

"The health emergency directly changes the information needs of communities. Our communication processes must remain participatory and evidence-based to ensure that they are relevant and have a positive impact. We are facing information saturation and great uncertainty caused by the pandemic, and this highlights the need to build capacities to recognize false information and offers" summarizes Tatiana Chacón, IOM C4D specialist.  

  

You can consult the results of the baselines and surveys here. The tri-national campaign will continue its process of participatory creation, production and validation and a parallel process is underway in La Carpio, Costa Rica. This project is part of the IOM X global model and is being implemented in the framework of the Regional Program on Migration Mesoamerica - The Caribbean, with the support of the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM). 

  

For more information, please contact Tatiana Chacón at tchacon@iom.int.