ReliefWeb

The IOM Pakistan Humanitarian Communications Program (HComms) was established in Pakistan as a cross-cutting service to provide life-saving information to populations affected by natural and complex emergencies. The program assesses information needs and channels, designs communications strategies, develops information products and disseminates information through sources and mediums identified through their research. The program also shares affectees’ feedback with aid providers to improve the quality of aid and tailor it according to the needs of the affected population.

This report documents the findings, analysis and recommendations regarding key aspects of humanitarian communications gleaned from an assessment conducted in the aftermath of the 2010 and 2011 monsoon floods in Pakistan.

The aim of the report is to assess the access – and response – of flood-affected communities to information after the floods and to analyze the gaps in these communications during the rollout of the Citizen Damage Compensation Program (CDCP), launched by the Government of Pakistan. This report will also enable the International Organization for Migration (IOM; leading humanitarian and CDCP Communication Partner) and other stakeholders to extract lessons learned and establish best practices for communicating with disaster-affected communities in the event of

An extensive household and community survey was carried out in 11 districts in the four provinces of Pakistan, designed to generate a qualitative and quantitative profile about the affected communities, the affected households’ access to humanitarian information (in particular during the CDCP implementation) and their financial capability. A total of 1,956 respondents in 311 villages were asked 60 questions regarding the aforementioned topics during a nationwide survey conducted in February 2012.

The low levels of literacy in disaster-affected communities mean that any medium of information exchange that requires beneficiaries to read will result in the alienation of a large proportion of the target audience. Thus, it is not surprising that affected households rely most often on friends and family members for information. Only 15% reported receiving information from aid workers. Mobile phones are the most-used media (72% of surveyed households own at least one mobile phone), followed by television, newspapers and radio. Affected households prefer receiving information in their regional languages. Although illiteracy has a limiting affect on the use of short message service (SMS), those who do use it find it very useful. The average number of SMS sent by mobile users is as high as 15 messages per day, with the value being higher for females.

To respond to the needs of disaster affectees, IOM Humanitarian Communications established a Humanitarian Call Centre (HCC). The toll-free helpline tasked with providing timely and credible information to affectees, has received an average of 550 calls per month since it became operational. The impact assessment reveals that just 2% of the flood-affected population knows about the number and call centre facility. With nearly 72% of owning mobile phones and relying heavily on phone calls to connect to friends and family during information, raising awareness about the call centre within the affected population is critical.