Misinformation Management in Afghanistan - Polio [Presentation from the Sharing Learning from Polio SBC Side Event at the 2022 SBCC Summit]

"Together [we] will stop the circulation of misinformation!"

Eman Eltigani begins this presentation at the Sharing Learning from Polio SBC: Misinformation, Social Data and Conflict side event at the 2022 International SBCC Summit by sharing recent rhetoric, circulating via video, that compares people who support the polio programme in Afghanistan to infidels. This video, which was first circulated online but has since spread to offline circles, is an example of the ways in which misinformation is affecting not only the effort to eradicate polio in this endemic country but also the extent to which it is actually endangering the lives of workers on the ground. In such a context, social listening and digital engagement are crucial, Eltigani argues.

Key points around which she structures her talk about misinformation management in Afghanistan include:

• Anti-United-Nations (UN) and -vaccine groups have influence over households' decision making processes and interfere in polio operations at the district level. The risk of their rhetoric is beyond the programme (e.g., the killing of 8 social mobilisers in February 2022).
• The nature of the current regime increases the power of religious leaders, some of whom are anti vaccine. (Other religious leaders fully support the polio programme and are not part of the regime.) The engagement of some - though not all - religious leaders in polio programme efforts to address misinformation is questionable. 
• Access to information through online platforms is limited to the urban setting and powerful people; as a result, caregivers are marginalised.
• Although women are the main caregivers and could contribute to child vaccination decisions, their access to the accurate information is affected by the rumours that circulate online and offline. (Also, there are a lot of restrictions around women now in Afghanistan, where they're not allow to bring their child outside the household in many cases. Adding to that, female polio workers been told not to go to the household. Such restrictions also place a burden on what polio workers are trying to do, which is to vaccinate the child.)
• Young people have access to the online conversation, and UNICEF Afghanistan engages them via the U-Report tool; however, their role in household decisions is limited due to social barriers.

UNICEF Afghanistan uses social listening and all the digital platforms actively before each polio vaccination campaign, as well as on a continuous/long-term basis to engage people. Lessons learned in this work include:

• The structure of the misinformation management taskforce and the leadership of the authority is critical to ensure that the processes of social listening and response (e.g., using a message bank) are implemented.
• An understanding of gender norms is necessary to ensure that caregivers have access to the information and engage in the immunisation conversation.
• Facilitating access, coordinating, and approving information is the first step to enhancing the misinformation management process and stopping the crisis at an early stage.
• Building the capacity of the partners and taskforce members will strengthen the role of misinformation management in addressing refusals and increasing access to information.

Recommendations include:

1. Increase access to information in order to maintain gains and manage possible crises in communication.
2. Coordinate the channels (online and offline) of communication, and unify messages.
3. Engage relevant voices to reinforce and promote the accurate messages.
4. Ensure accountability and leadership to enforce the misinformation management taskforce.

In response to one audience member's question, Eltigani indicates how UNICEF Afghanistan is trying to increase access to information - e.g., by working with the communication team on a listening project that involves distributing solar radio to the community and ensuring that their hotline is also working. "So digital cannot be the answer at all. But...[w]e just keep keep trying and we keep coming with things from the community themselves."

Click here, and then click on the Part 2 video recording, to locate and watch Eltigani's presentation (beginning at approx. 26 minutes and 56 seconds into that Part 2 recording).