Rumour tracking and Community Perception Tracking F.24 describe two new but different approaches used by organisations to ‘listen’ to the community, but there are a variety of ways of capturing community feedback and insights in a systematic way. There is often overlap between the different approaches. 

Community Perspectives

Community feedback and perspectives can be understood as views, ideas or beliefs that are held individually or collectively within a particular community and which can translate into questions, concerns or practices about the emergency and the response to it. Understanding community perspectives is like taking the pulse of the community and making sure that communication remains useful, programmes stay relevant and issues are addressed. Listening, verifying, analysing and engaging are the main ways to understand community perspectives. At the core of community perspectives is active listening and asking questions to understand what people are thinking and feeling and to hear their views on how to improve and work together.

Systematically collecting community feedback about the response and their concerns can also highlight rumours (see below). It can also identify satisfaction or problems with the programme as well as adaptations that can improve effectiveness or address abuses of power. In recent years feedback collection and documentation has increasingly been done using mobile technology. It is important to triangulate and discuss findings with communities and other stakeholders so that action can be taken and so that communities know the purpose of the approach or tool used.

Communities’ perceptions can rapidly change depending on the different stages of the emergency, the context and how the response is developing. As this information can vary widely across different groups of people and different locations, it is important to capture qualitative information, in real-time, on perceptions and beliefs related to the specific situation.

Rumours

A rumour is unverified information that passes from one person to the next; it can be true or false or a mixture of both. Misinformation is the result of misunderstanding and misconstruing information but without the intent to deceive. Disinformation is spread deliberately to influence, manipulate and deceive others. For example, people may be fearful of drinking water from a particular source because they have seen people adding chemicals to it - they have received some information but not the whole picture (the well is being chlorinated) and so they are misinformed. However, if they receive a WhatsApp message where someone purporting to be a scientist tells them that throwing salt in front of their door will prevent them from getting Ebola - that is disinformation. 

Rumours, misinformation and disinformation often take place without humanitarian workers being aware of them, but they can cause significant damage to health and wellbeing and to the capacity of agencies to implement programmes effectively. In times of crisis people may be more susceptible to rumours or persuasive disinformation messages. They want to know what to do in their changed circumstances and find critical thinking harder. They may be exhausted and stressed and their normal trusted sources of information disrupted. Rumours often flourish in situations of uncertainty where information is difficult to access. If various actors share confusing and inconsistent messages, as often happens during epidemics and pandemics, it can lead to the proliferation of rumours. This is one reason why interactive, clear and transparent communication is so important. 

There are various ways to systematically identify and verify rumours in a planned and coordinated way through field and partner staff, local and social media and local groups and networks. Hygiene promotion outreach workers are also well placed to identify and respond to rumours.