Religions for Peace KENYA partners with the Ministry of Health for a national media campaign to #KomeshaCorona

Religions for Peace KENYA partners with the Ministry of Health for a national media campaign to #KomeshaCorona

Approximately 4.5 million Kenyans were reached through a targeted media campaign designed by Religions for Peace‘s (RfP) Interreligious council of Kenya in partnership with the Kenyan Ministry of Health. The media campaign used Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, WhatsApp, Radio and TV stations to target various populations with varying access to different technologies.

RfP’s Interreligious Council of Kenya (IRCK) and its interfaith youth and women’s networks are building country-wide awareness of COVID-19 prevention and response through the dissemination of multi-religious messages. Their media strategy has particularly targeted people living in informal settlements, rural communities, and vulnerable counties that are typically more challenging to contact. The media approach is gaining the attention of these key populations by using community radios (popular in informal settlements) and faith-run media stations.

RfP’s Kenya Interfaith Youth Network members have been essential in elevating these messages using social media, where the messages have been “trending” on Twitter for several days.

A Tweet shared by the Ministry of Health in Kenya stated that IRCK’s messages,

Other activities undertaken by IRCK include government advocacy to support vulnerable people living in informal settlements and disseminating “e-posters” on accurate information on COVID-19 supported by multi-religious messages.

Religious leaders have also been working collaboratively with trusted health experts to document COVID-19 facts and develop talking points for senior religious leaders to use when engaging with other religious leaders who have not adopted COVID-19 safety recommendations.

RfP’s regional body in Africa – the African Council of Religious Leaders – has provided guidance and funding to this work through the support of Norwegian Church Aid (NCA).

The entire RfP family wishes to congratulate IRCK and ACRL for this impactful, timely, and impressive initiative which highlights the mobilising capacity and influence of religions working together for peace.