In the conflict-affected countries where the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) works, connectivity and access can be difficult. When COVID-19 hit earlier this year, ICRC worked quickly to ensure that they got useful information about the coronavirus to the people they serve. How did ICRC do it? They turned to radio. Radio is a time-tested low-tech solution to share messages with these communities, and it consistently ranks as a preferred and trusted medium for receiving information.

The ICRC’s institutional strategy is anchored on the statement “putting people at the center”. One of the ways it does this is by engaging with communities – through information, feedback, and participation – to ensure that the people it serves are able to shape the organization’s humanitarian programs. After successfully running COVID19 prevention radio spots and producing one of their first interactive live shows, the ICRC asked the people they serve for feedback to figure out if their radio work had made a difference. ICRC called radio listeners and surveyed them over the phone, asking questions such as “What did you think of the program?”, “What did you learn?”, and “What is your most trusted/reliable source of information?” In their phone surveys, ICRC heard from 48 radio listeners and got some useful feedback on the ICRC radio program.

For the next round of radio impact evaluation, the ICRC seeks to be more systematic. Representatives from the ICRC came to the LabStorm group for advice on making the impact evaluation process less laborious and more scalable, how to determine what the right questions to ask are, and how to measure the value of their interactive programs based on what happens when people call in to the interactive shows.

Read the full article about COVID-19 prevention programs through the radio by Chely Esguerra and Nisma Le Boul at FeedbackLabs.