Social distancing in a friendly gathering and sharing cigarette / tea cup / shaking hands
Course Code and Name: MSJ11401 Development Communication
Situation analysis
Introduction:
After staying home for almost 5 months, I finally decided to take a walk for some time to get some fresh air. I wore mask on my mouth, gloves in my hands and took my hexisol bottle and sanitizer in my pocket and went out. The moment I stepped out of my house, I felt like an alien. It seemed like I was the only one who had all the kits to survive this “new normal” but the rest of my country people were actually living in old normal. I see a group of people chilling in the roadside tea stall, sharing their cigarettes and discussing how “deadly” coronavirus is. Although they were kind of wearing mask, and I say kind of because it was placed somewhere on their nose since they were having their cigarettes and the six feet social distancing was very questionable as all of them were standing in close knit circle and having a very important discussion indeed.
According to World Health Organization (WHO), Respiratory viruses can be spread through shaking hands, touching your eyes, nose and mouth. Hence, it is very important to maintain a safe distance so that in any way the virus does not pass from one body to another.
In Bangladesh, the government took drastic measures during the initial days of Pandemic. However, as time went by and people had to go back to their workplaces, they forgot that they were still living in a deadly pandemic. Even after strict rules implementation of social distancing, people were seen breaking it in broad daylight. (UNB, 2020)
Defining concept:
Lockdown can be useful for a particular time frame to reduce the spread of Covid-19 but it can never be a permanent solution, it’s not possible do lock down people for a long time because it will lead to other crisis situation maybe even more than pandemic, like global recession, poverty and hunger, mental illness, domestic violence and more. As the spread of this virus is not going to stop anytime soon, we are now in transitional phase and stepping into new normal which is the new way of living our lives maintaining safety precautions and health guidelines provided by WHO & Government. This asks us to maintain personal hygiene, taking care of our physical & mental health, being aware of fake news, and, most importantly, keep social distancing while going out. This shows us a way to lead somewhat of a "normal" life without risking your own or other people's lives. In Bangladesh, mostly young people are misusing the concept of the new normal. Many young people are going into crowded public spaces, doing parties, doing hangouts, going on tours & vacations, without taking proper safety measures, or maintaining any safe distance. Many people are assuming that we have developed "herd immunity" against the virus already. But the epidemic is not over yet just because they are over it. It is understandable that people can’t live alone and obviously need socialization but not at the cost of others life. If we go out without taking proper safety measure, these unsafe outings can be harmful not only for the ones who are stepping out but also for their families and their communities.
Since locking up ourselves is not possible we have to accustom ourselves with new normal. And to stop the spread of this virus, the best possible thing that we can do is raise awareness. We felt the importance of letting people know about the risk and consequences of their actions and why it is so vital to maintaining safety measure in new normal to prevent the spread of Covid-19. We have chosen the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) as an appropriate place to execute our campaign as we will find a good number of youth here that is what we need in our campaign research and since we are student of ULAB, it will be easier for us to reach out more people than anywhere else within the limited resource we have.
Global Situation:
On December 2019, a number of pneumonia cases were found in Wuhan of China, which is known to be the start of Coronavirus. By the start of 2020, the cases were not limited to Wuhan. By January 2020, the virus spread to 32 provinces, municipalities and special administrative regions of China, which includes countries like Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Also by that time, 835 cases were found in China out of which 25 people were dead and 93 percent were hospitalized. (Wang,Chen,et al., 2020)
By March of 2020, the virus had taken a drastic turn and spread to almost every part of the world and a huge number of the world’s population were affected and died from it. And as I write this, the confirmed coronavirus has increased to approximately 28,637,952 and the number of death is 917,417.
Figure 1: Number of deaths and confirmed cases around the word till September 13, 2020.
When it comes to South Asia, for a long time this region was unaffected. But as time is going by, cases continue to rise to a point where the healthcare systems of countries like India, Pakistan are having a hard time treating these patients. India is known to be fourth largest country when it comes to the caseload rising. In early June, India lifted its lockdown and has seen an increase in its case. By the mid of June, India has roughly 27 cases per 100,000 people. India took different measures for different states. For instance, places like slums where social distancing was absolutely impossible, authorities took aggressive testing and screening measures. On the other hand, the lockdown in Pakistan has been lifted but the cases have been doubled since the beginning of the June and have been ranked among the 10 countries in the world with fastest growing Covid-19 cases. The authorities have taken measures like (Cfr, 2020)
Figure 2: Cases of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till June 16, 2020
The current situation in Bangladesh
The first case of Covid-19 was found on March 8 in Bangladesh and after 10 days the first death was reported. And that was the beginning of the pandemic that was going to hit us in upcoming months. The situation eventually got worse and now i.e. till September 14 the total coronavirus case is 337,520. (Worldmeter, 2020)
Figure 3: Total cases in Bangladesh till September 14, 2020
During the initial outbreak, Bangladesh authorities have decided to cancel all the flights from abroad and has put a ban all sorts of public gathering and also closed schools and colleges. Later after 66 days of lockdown, offices resumed its operations on a limited scale with proper safety measures in transports as well as in office. (Dhaka Tribune, 2020) However, one thing that cannot be ignored about Bangladesh is that it is a densely populated country and most people are daily wage earners which makes the entire concept of social distancing harder than we can assume it to be.
“For a city as dense as Dhaka, maintaining social distance - as suggested by the World Health Organization (WHO) to stop the coronavirus spread - seems like a chimera.” – Al Jazeera
Even after total lockdown, millions of people were out for earning in the capital city of Dhaka which is home to nearly 18 million people. Dhaka city is known to be one of the densely populated cities where 23,334 people live per square kilometer. (Al Jazeera, 2020)
Figure 4: Human gathering on a bus stand amid pandemic
Although there are people who have no choice but had to go out under such circumstances, there is another section people who probably could’ve avoided such situation but chose not to. According to The Diplomat (2020), religious gatherings have been one of the key reasons for the spread of coronavirus in Asia. Bangladesh is no different. Even after imposing a ban on gatherings by the authority, people were seen going to mosques in flock and even in shopping centers.
Why this is a problem?
For a country like Bangladesh, the lockdown can have a severe impact if people cannot be provided with daily necessities. Although at the beginning of the outbreak the government did impose a total lockdown, a lot of people which mostly includes the daily wage earners still had to go out and work to feed themselves. And even after partial lifting of lockdown, the economy is having crippling effects and almost most sectors had suffered in some way or the other thus having an effect on livelihood on people. (The Financial express, 2020)
Figure 5: Annual percentage change in GDP of Bangladesh
At the beginning of the pandemic, government did impose a total lockdown by shutting down offices, schools and even suspended the vehicular movement. The authorities urged the citizens to maintain proper social distancing and avoid social gathering. But as time went by, there was no decrease in number of affected and even number of deaths started to grow. Even after repeated requests by various health experts, people were still going out and maintaining no social distance.
Eventually, keeping the economic factors in mind the authorities eventually had to restart the offices. Thus, more people were out and Bangladesh being the over populated country, the social distance became a myth and people were even seen not wearing proper precaution. Let alone the wage earners, people were also seen hanging out in several places during several occasions, with no mask on their mouth. This could eventually lead to infection rate to increase more thus making the pandemic go on loop. That is why, it is important the people must maintain social distance when they are out and at least sanitize themselves properly.
Baseline research
Baseline research has been conducted throughout our study since it provides data and information that analyzes the current situation to establish a starting point and any further details draws up a steady conclusion. This helps us focus on specific areas and keep the study cohesive. This also helps us to compare data collected initially with information acquired later from further potential target populations.
Objectives of Baseline Research:
To provide a base set of data for the research
To observe the use of necessary tools, for e.g. masks, sanitizers, social distancing, etc. in friendly gatherings during this pandemic.
To analyze the understanding of target population about pandemic and the measures they are taking to combat it.
Sampling Method:
Since, frequently going outside is not an option for most of us, we had to work around our ways to conduct our research in a purposive method focusing both on quantitative and qualitative data.
A group of 25 male and female ULAB students were sent online questionnaire surveys using Google forms and data was collected accordingly.
Sample Areas:
Campaign Areas: We mostly found our target audience through different Facebook groups that consists of ULAB students who were then sent the surveys online. Since everything is done online now, our target group cooperated duly.
Time:
Duration: September 9-13, 2020.
Time frame:
We need total of 6 days to carry out the whole process. Day 1 consisted of content development; we will need 3 days to conduct the interviews of primary and secondary audience. At the same time, the questionnaire survey took place and finally last day was about analyzing all the findings.
Survey Findings:
The purpose of our survey was to find how much people are aware of this contagious virus. Since we are still in pandemic and it is still not completely safe to go out, we wanted to know how many students actually find it is okay to go out now and hang out with friends. And according to our survey, most 48 percent do not go out at all. But 52 percent, which is the majority amount, go out at least once a week. Out of which, 56 percent of the students hangout in open places like roadside tea stalls which can be a more risky place to contaminate ourselves.
Figure 6: The statistical number of students who prefer to go out and hang out during pandemic
Our next concern was hygiene and social distancing. Considering the fact Covid-19 strictly prohibits physical contact due to its extreme contagious features, it was important to know whether the students actually try to avoid the physical contact or not. We asked whether they share cigarette while hanging out with their friends and the majority (68%) do not prefer to do but 32 percent of them still do not mind sharing their cigarettes with their friends.
Another question regarding the same concern was whether they still prefer to greet each other by shaking hands as that too can be risky at a time like this. Turns out, 52 percent of them do not mind shaking hands to each other.
Figure 7: The statistical number of students who are aware of risk of getting in physical contact with another person.
Social distancing or physical distancing is one of the important rule or way of life that the health experts asked us to follow. It was said from the very beginning of the outbreak that at least six feet of distance is needed to maintain in order to not get ourselves contaminated. By conducting this survey, we found out that 44 percent of i.e. majority do not maintain the accurate social distancing method while 36 percent of them are not concerned about that.
Figure 7: Statistical representation of students who maintain social distancing
Another important aspect or guideline that is needed to be followed while you are out is wearing mask. While most of the population does wear mask but some choose not to. Hence in our survey, we found out how many of our students are practicing this new habit of new normal. 62.5 percent of the students wear mask on regular basis but still 37.5 percent of them are reluctant when it comes to wearing the mask in public.
Figure 8: Statistical representation of students who wear masks in public
Figure 8: Statistical representation of the students who know and followed the guidelines
Lastly, it was important if the students are aware of WHO guidelines. World Health Organization (WHO) has given us few guidelines to maintain in order to keep ourselves safe in this pandemic. It was necessary to know how many of students are actually aware and willing to practice them on regular basis while going out.60 percent of them know the guidelines while rest 40 percent are remotely aware of them. Out of which, 44 percent of them are really not concerned about maintaining them.
Overall, if we try to analyze the survey based on the three criteria knowledge, attitude and practice, most students are aware of the severity of pandemic and its guidelines but are reluctant to maintain them. However, there are also a good section of students who do try to maintain the guidelines and go out with proper safety.
Audience Analysis
Audience analysis is the process which is used to identify and understand the behavior/actions of our audience and the factors that influence the audiences. This helps to reach our target audience and as a result this will help the campaign to succeed if it’s done right.
Target Audience:
The target audience is the group of people to whom the message is targeted. They can be a single or a group of people or multiple audiences who are intended to receive the message of the campaign. The target audience consists –
Primary audience
Secondary audience
Tertiary audience
Primary audience
Primary target audiences are the direct beneficiaries of the campaign.
Our primary target audience for the campaign is-
Secondary audience
Secondary target audience is the people who can influence the primary target audience.
For our campaign, they are-
Family members
Family members are very important as students are most likely in contact with them all the time. They can influence students to maintain health guidelines while socializing in this pandemic.
Tertiary audience
Tertiary audiences are the group of people who can influence both primary & secondary audiences.
The Tertiary audience are-
Audience Behavior Analysis
We interviewed 4 people from 3 different target audience groups to analyze their behavior regarding social distancing and the new normal.
Primary Target Audience | A male student of ULAB | He thinks the virus got weak over the time since the government opened everything and we don't get to see much news and briefing of Covid-19 like before.
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Primary Target Audience | A female student of ULAB |
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Secondary Target Audience | Mother of a student |
Most of the time their child goes out for hangouts or plans, they ask their son and daughter to wear a mask while going out and maintain distance. |
Tertiary Target Audience | Owner of a restaurant |
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Goals and Objectives
Goals:
To raise awareness among students about the importance of maintaining health guidelines provided by the government and WHO to resume social activity in the new normal.
To inform us that if we do not maintain health guidelines and act responsibly while socializing in new normal then it will cause a lot more damage and it will put the lives of our friends and family in danger.
Objectives
The SMART objectives of the campaign are given below:
Key Component | Objective |
Specific - What is the specific task? | Raising awareness among ULAB students to cope up with new normal by maintaining health guideline in social gathering provided by WHO & Governments |
Measurable - What are the standards or parameters? | Creating awareness among students to maintain health guideline so that we can bring a behavior change among the students who don't wear mask, share cigarette and shakes hand without taking safety measure To encourage those approximately 40 percent of the students that we find out in our survey, who go out to meet friends and social gatherings but Doesn't follow the health guidelines |
Achievable - Is the task feasible? | This task is achievable if the promotion of the campaign is done right. |
Realistic - Are sufficient resources available? | We can partner with the apprenticeship programs and clubs as they have a significant number of members and their social media platforms are very active, they can spread the message across a large number of students. |
Time-Bound - What are the start and end dates? | We will aware ULAB students from 25th of September to 25th of October. |
Message Strategy
Our target was to spread two very important messages. Our core message is “To live better tomorrow, keep distance today”. Our second sub message is “Don’t be so daring, Sharing is not caring”. The reason behind choosing these messages is we targeted the youth to be more conscious while they are out for work or even for hanging with their friends. The idea is to do normal task by adapting the ways of new normal.
Phases of developing message | Process of developing messages |
Phase 01: Draft message development | At first, we consulted amongst ourselves. Then we came up with our two messages “To live better tomorrow, keep distance today” and “Don’t be so daring, sharing is not caring”. |
Phase 02: Draft message revision | Due to the time constraint, we could not go for pre-testing. However, we shared the drafted message with our peers to see if they could relate to it. However, we decided to go with both the messages. |
Phase 03: Final message development | After much thought, we finalized “To live better tomorrow, keep distance today” as our core message of the awareness campaign. |
Core message:
“To live better tomorrow, keep distance today”
Here, the core message is working here as ‘Word Play’. The target of using such Word Play is to inspire people simultaneously.
Sub message:
“Don’t be so daring, sharing is not caring”
The sub message is targeted towards the youth who are going out on daily basis and has tendency to sharing their tea cups or cigarettes while hanging out in the tea stalls. They can be the key victims of coronavirus and also can pass it on to their family members. Hence, it is important that we emphasize on this sharing through our campaign.
Communication for Campaign
Communication Channel
Communication Mix
Planning for communication method with blend of multiple communication tools is an absolute necessity. The success of any camping heavily depends on the way messages are delivered to the audience. There can be several different ways in which communication tools can be used to distribute the message of a campaign to the audience. It will maximize the amount of exposure a campaign gets and also increases the possibility of the messages to be delivered to the target audience of this campaign.
Poster
Graffiti
Facebook Content
Monitoring and Evaluation
Assessment of the effectiveness of the campaign will be done through keeping a record of what we have achieved. In order to do so we will be monitoring the activities. Monitoring of the campaign will be conducted in each semester. Considering the current situation, the entire campaign was done online except the open mic event, which too was uploaded on Facebook. `After the end of the campaign a comprehensive evaluation will be conducted. We will be checking the how much reach did we get through our social media platform and will analyze each content to understand the progress and effectiveness of the campaign.
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