Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) technical guidance by WHO RCCE action plan: COVID-19 preparedness | Page 2

RCCE ACTION PLAN GUIDANCE
COVID-19 preparedness and response
Objective
Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) is an essential component of your health
emergency preparedness and response action plan.
This tool is designed to support risk communication, community engagement staff and responders working
with national health authorities, and other partners to develop, implement and monitor an effective action
plan for communicating effectively with the public, engaging with communities, local partners and other
stakeholders to help prepare and protect individuals, families and the public’s health during early response
to COVID-19.
How to use this tool
This guidance can be used to develop an RCCE plan that, once completed, will constitute a basic
evidencebased source for engaging and communicating effectively with identified audiences.
The resulting plan will facilitate effective RCCE, two-way communication between health authorities and
at-risk populations in response to COVID-19. It includes planning for engagement with and within local
at-risk communities, broader segments of the public at the country-level, and other relevant stakeholders
(such as health care providers).
There are 3 sections to the RCCE action plan guidance:
1. ”The Key Steps” to developing a COVID-19 RCCE plan.
2. A related planning template for countries to fill in related to each step.
3. Seven annexes provide additional guidance and resources: an audience assessment questionnaire,
a process for identifying objectives and audiences, a method for identifying key information needs
about COVID-19, and a list of sources for existing content and messaging.
Key considerations
• Adapt the elements according to your country needs and situation. Some elements of the action plan
guidance may differ between countries, depending upon their risk levels, people’s perceptions, needs,
local capacities and current situations.
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C O V I D - 19 P R E PA R E D N E S S A N D R E S P O N S E