The unprecedented pandemic put at risk not only public health but rational information flow too. Disinformation beliefs circulating to sow fear in minds often restrained people from getting vaccinated. Civil Society Organizations such as regional NGO in Armenia had a vital role in guiding the public through fake narratives, especially about vaccines and their adverse health consequences. Thanks to the financial support received from the European Union (EU) in the scope of the Project “COVID-19: Civil Society Resilience and Sustainability”, implemented by ERIM and Human Rights House Yerevan in Armenia, Cinemart encountered the issue by online and offline campaigns designed to inform people about the importance of vaccines.
In the framework of the targeted media campaign “Get Ready, Get Vaccinated”, implemented in Lori region, Cinemart, Youth NGO registered back in 2018, worked with 340 businesses and entrepreneurs in total to raise public awareness with posters placed in stores and community centers. Self-adhesive stickers with the inscription “Our staff is vaccinated” were disseminated to highlight the reliability of businesses, especially important for those is high-risk groups. The stickers on buildings were adapted to Armenian, Russian, and English languages.
Additionally, three public short announcements created by Cinemart were disseminated by the most-viewed Armenian media and social networks, and ensured the access of more than 400,000 people in the country to accurate information about COVID-19 and vaccination. Likewise, the online awareness raising campaign had a great importance in terms of fighting fake narratives in Armenia as the targeted videos reached not only population of Lori region but people in the entire country.
“Despite the fact that during the campaign some entrepreneurs refused to get engaged, the campaign overall was successful and reached a a large audience”, president of Cinemart, Varduhi Ananyan.
COVID-19: Civil Society Resilience and Sustainability is a 48-month regional project funded by the European Union and implemented by ERIM, the Black Sea Trust, Human Rights House Foundation, Human Rights House Tbilisi and Human Rights House Yerevan. The project is working to foster the resilience and sustainability of civil society and independent media in Eastern Partnership countries, enabling them to mitigate the impact of COVID-19.