"This paper examines online discourse about the White Helmets, a volunteer rescue group that operates in rebel (anti-regime) areas of Syria. The White Helmet’s humanitarian activities, their efforts to document the targeting of civilians through video evidence, and their non-sectarian nature (that
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disrupted regime-preferred narratives of rebels as Islamic terrorists) put the group at odds with the Syrian government and their allies, including Russia. Consequently, they became a target of a persistent effort to undermine them. Disinformation can be defined as information that is deliberately false or misleading. Its purpose is not always to convince, but to create doubt. Bittman (1985) describes one tactic of disinformation as “public relations … in reverse” meant to damage an adversary’s image and undermine their objectives. We argue that disinformation is best understood as a campaign—an assemblage of information actions—employed to mislead for a strategic, political purpose. Prior research and investigative reporting have characterized the campaign against the White Helmets as disinformation, due to its connection to Russia’s influence apparatus, its use of false and misleading narratives to delegitimize the group, and its function to create doubt about their evidence documenting atrocities perpetrated by the Syrian regime and their Russian allies. This research examines “both sides” of the White Helmets discourse—exploring how the White Helmets promote their work and foster solidarity with online audiences through their own social media activity and through episodic attention from mainstream media, and examining how the campaign against the White Helmets attempts to counter and delegitimize their work through strategic use of alternative and social media. We do not make any claims about the veracity of specific pieces of content or specific narratives shared by accounts on either side of this conversation. However, we do highlight how the campaign against the White Helmets reflects emerging understandings of disinformation in this context." (Page 2)
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"Burkina Faso is dramatically confronted with the consequences of violence, persistent food insecurity and malnutrition. Five of the thirteen regions of the country are particularly affected, and the humanitarian situation has been steadily deteriorating since 2017 with a peak observed in the second
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half of 2019. In total, 2.2 million people face crucial unmet needs created by the deterioration of their living conditions; among them more than 918,000 people are in need of services linked to their survival. Efforts are underway to scale up the response to cope with these escalating needs. In late October 2019, the Humanitarian Country Team was activated in Burkina Faso, replacing the Humanitarian-Development Country Team, to enable dedicated leadership in coordination and information management. And between December 2019 and January 2020, the CDAC Network – in partnership with Ground Truth Solutions and with funding from the H2H Network and with the assistance of UN agencies and CDAC members operating in the country – undertook a scoping mission to the country to assess the status, current strengths and needs related to response-wide Communication, Community Engagement and Accountability." (CDAC website)
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"It has been widely agreed that national platforms for Communication and Community Engagement (CCE) are essential for making progress toward greater participation and accountability in humanitarian response. A policy paper describing this in detail was produced by the CDAC Network in 2016, supported
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by our How-To Guide for organisations interested in establishing such platforms. By ‘platforms’, the network refers to innovative coordination mechanisms that bring together community engagement activities and sit within, or influence, overall response leadership. These ensure community engagement efforts are coordinated, systemic and locally-led. This Status Update February 2020 outlines the context, leads, donors and challenges and opportunities of 23 national and regional platforms in 22 countries that are currently operating." (CDAC website)
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"The Guidelines provide practical directions for the use of distance education tools and practices to support teaching and learning and offer suggestions on the use of appropriate technology to address the social and pedagogical issues of learning in a crisis situation. The purpose is to provide a r
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oad map for decision makers in governments and institutions to invest in the systematic integration of good distance education practices in their specific contexts, keeping in view the challenges of equity and inclusion. Parents and students can benefit from the Guidelines by adopting appropriate practices that will facilitate the learning process." (Purpose of the guidelines, page 3)
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"This framework lays out the multiple elements needed to successfully build and assess the performance of a national Communications and Community Engagement (CCE) Platform. These Platforms enable a broad range of government and disaster response organisations to implement coordinated communication a
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nd engagement strategies based on the belief that “information saves lives during a crisis." (Page 1)
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"Over the last two years, Fiji has worked to build a Communication and Community Engagement (CCE) platform that embeds advanced two-way communication capabilities in the national disaster response system. While it is common to think of “platforms” as a technology service, the intent here is much
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broader. While technology is an important component, today’s best-in-class national CCE “platforms” include a broad network of organisations that collaborate on communications efforts, create resources such as guides and training that support efforts, and provide governance structures that support an integrated communication framework. This is critical work. As a Pacific island nation, Fiji’s nearly 900,000 people are exposed to the ongoing threat of tropical cyclones and earthquakes. At the beginning of 2020, Fiji faced two tropical cyclones in a period of three weeks and then in April experienced land fall from the category five Tropical Cyclone Harold. These weather crises coincided with the public health challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic." (Page 1)
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"Building effective CCE capabilities is particularly important in Vanuatu, a Pacific nation spanning 83 islands, which is vulnerable to natural disasters ranging from tropical cyclones and volcanic eruptions, to disease and agricultural threats. 2020 has been a particularly challenging year for its
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300,000 citizens, with the landfall of Category 5 Tropical Cyclone Harold in April and the concurrent rise of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the last two years, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has sponsored a programme to build sustainable next-generation CCE capability within Vanuatu. This nationally grounded initiative has been led by Vanuatu’s National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) with coordination support from the CDAC Network and Ground Truth Solutions (GTS). CARE provides additional CCE Technical Advisory and Secretariat support." (Page 1)
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"In March 2019, Cyclone Idai brought death and destruction to Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe as a result of heavy rains and extensive flooding (Figure 1). The respective governments together with UNICEF and other partners, responded swiftly to the disaster. Rescue and relief operations were impleme
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nted immediately, saving many lives, and resources were rapidly mobilized to provide food and non-food items to people in the affected areas. As part of the initial response, UNICEF conducted a rapid knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) survey on the information and communication needs of the most affected people in all three countries. The findings informed the lifesaving multisectoral C4D interventions which played a key supporting role in all three countries (Table 1). The experiences of the three countries in successfully mainstreaming C4D across the Cyclone Idai response offer valuable learning for future humanitarian emergencies." (Introduction)
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"En este documento nos centraremos en cuatro facetas del acceso a la información, con sus respectivos riesgos, que deben tener en cuenta los tomadores de decisión en la coyuntura actual. Asimismo, buscamos ofrecer soluciones o recomendaciones que puedan implementar tanto el Gobierno como el sector
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privado, tendientes a la garantía de los derechos humanos y la protección de las comunidades más vulnerables. Primero, discutiremos el impacto de la información sesgada o discriminatoria en relación con los grupos más vulnerables de la población. A continuación, presentaremos un breve diagnóstico sobre la desinformación por noticias falsas. En tercer lugar, comentaremos la importancia de entregar información de manera proactiva. Por último, analizaremos el impacto de modificar los tiempos de respuesta a las peticiones elevadas ante las entidades estatales." (Página 3-4)
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"You will find information and advice on everything from how to source rumours and factcheck information, to how to share actionable and practical answers to address these rumours. Internews Rumour Tracking Methodology is designed to be flexible and responsive to local context – and you should be
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too. While there are minimum standards that every project should include in order to implement the Internews Rumour Tracking Methodology (see minimum standards, page 6), projects need to build on these standards based on local contexts." (Page 5)
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"Internews Rumour Tracking Methodology consists of four key functions: 1. A mechanism to determine and document which rumours are circulating; 2. An effective strategy to fact-check information and rumours; 3. A variety of accessible and inclusive mechanisms to share accurate responses to rumours; 4
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. A mechanism to share community voices with humanitarians and other stakeholders. Internews programs enable the community to access relevant and trusted information and provide community feedback to foster more inclusive decision making within humanitarian programs. These bridges are based on symmetrical two-way relationships that are attuned to listening as much as producing information and that link the national, local, and hyper-local information levels. This Learning Collection manual offers case studies, practical instructions and a template library to implement Internews rumour tracking methodology and through this effectively address rumours in humanitarian crisis and conflicts around the world. "Part I. Context" describes the importance of access to fair, accurate and actionable information; the damage rumours can do in a humanitarian context; and the value of Internews Rumour Tracking Methodology as a tool for communicating with communities and humanitarian accountability. "Part II. Case Study" gives an overview of several Internews rumour tracking projects and an in-depth case study of rumour tracking in Greece. The case study also covers challenges and lessons learned in order to offer recommendations for future rumour tracking activities." (Page 9)
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"The core document of CDAC’s technical training is the facilitator’s guide – a document that leads facilitators, agencies and staff through an all-inclusive journey in communication and community engagement best practice. The guide aspires to: Provide information for people affected by disaste
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r to save lives, mitigate risk and enable people to take the best possible action by being as informed as possible; Set up mechanisms for two-way communication between humanitarian actors and the people they seek to serve to engage communities and enable humanitarian programmes to be informed by communities, to enable their participation in humanitarian response and to hold actors to account; Enable communication between disaster-affected people themselves to help people’s coping mechanisms and so that people can help each other; and Engage in collaboration across different humanitarian actors, with different humanitarian actors to harness different experiences, skills and expertise." (Cdacnetwork.org)
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"There is a public interest in the reporting of major incidents, to inform the public of what has happened and over time allow the public to make sense of those events. Legitimate reporting of major incidents will often include approaches to individuals who have witnessed or been otherwise affected
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by the events; the Code does not seek to prevent this. Journalists must approach individuals caught up in these incidents, or affected family and friends, with sensitivity and sympathy. Journalists must take care to distinguish between claims and facts when reporting on major incidents. Journalists must take particular care in relation to any content about a major incident which involves children, considering carefully how to avoid unnecessary intrusion." (Key points, p1)
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"This Guide provides practical guidance for governments regarding how to effectively communicate with communities during the recovery phase following an emergency. It explains how to identify communication needs, and presents “best fit” communication methods and strategies to deploy to support D
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isaster Recovery Frameworks (DRF) and recovery strategies. For the purposes of this Guide, recovery communication includes sending, gathering, managing and evaluating information. Communication flows between governments and communities can be one-way, whereby information is sent out to communities, and/or two-way, whereby communities have an opportunity to voice their views/opinions to governments. Past recovery experience suggests it is critically important that governments do more than just send information to communities. They should also engage in two-way communication. Two-way communication helps ensure that recovery priorities in DRFs and recovery strategies align with community priorities, thereby harmonizing recovery efforts of governments and communities." (About this guide, page 2)
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"This guide focuses on the following areas: a brief orientation and perspective on the media for public officials, including discussion of how the media thinks and works, and on the public as the end-recipient of information; techniques for responding to and cooperating with the media in conveying i
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nformation and delivering messages before, during, and after a public health crisis; tools of the trade of media relations and public communications; strategies and tactics for addressing opportunities and challenges that may arise as a consequence of communications initiatives." (Preface)
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"This guide suggests practices to support an active role for communities in humanitarian services and decision-making, improve access to information and keep people connected to support their own ways of coping. It emphasises a collective approach where humanitarian actors coordinate, collaborate an
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d are held accountable for their actions. It is based on action research into a number of initiatives and organisations as well as gap analyses and recommendations for strengthening and scaling practice. The guide is intended primarily for practitioners and leaders working in national and international humanitarian and media development organisations as well as other entities involved in preparedness, response and recovery. Experience in the humanitarian sector and prior knowledge of relevant policies, plans and processes is assumed, as is familiarity with the humanitarian architecture, the humanitarian programme cycle and accountability to affected populations." (Page 8)
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"Despite two-way communication being an important part of the “Core Humanitarian Standard”, awareness of Communications with Communities (CwC) is limited among disaster responders, government, donor and private sector stakeholders. This lack of awareness results in insufficient budget allocation
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in the design of emergency response plans. This, in turn, leads to poor feedback mechanisms with communities during disasters and poor transparency in the implementation of humanitarian interventions. To that end, there was an immediate and continued need for initiatives like this project to create awareness around importance of CwC." (Evaluation findings, page 5)
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"In the context of humanitarian action, Communication with Communities (CwC) refers to activities where the exchange of information is used to save lives and mitigate risks of the disaster affected community. It also enables greater accountability in humanitarian organizations and facilitates the de
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signing of a response according to the needs of the community [...] The overall objective of this toolkit is to guide policy actors and practitioners of national and international humanitarian agencies, donor communities, private sector entities, government ministries and departments to adapt CwC for the development of an appropriate disaster affected community-centered communication strategy throughout the project cycle and integrate it into policies, priorities and practices." (Page 4)
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"What we’ve learnt about communicating effectively with disaster affected communities: 1. To deliver actionable, life-saving information, emergency responders should strive to agree on common messages developed in partnership with communities and tackle the spread of rumours. 2. It is important to
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identify the right channels of communication for the intended audience. 3. Where possible, use local languages to increase the likelihood of messages achieving their desired impact. 4. Inclusion of at-risk groups should be considered carefully when developing any communication strategy [...]" (Summary of learning points, page 7)
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