Inclusive COVID-19 Crisis Communication
 

The COVID-19 crisis communication in Belgium at the time did not convincingly meet the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO), contributing to information inequality. We addressed these issues and improved the flow of information to language minorities and vulnerable groups. We developed a strategy for inclusive crisis communication that took into account the socio-cultural and (multi)linguistic diversity and literacy levels of the Belgian population.

We created targeted strategies tailored to the needs of language minorities and vulnerable and hard-to-reach groups in Belgium. These communication strategies overcame several barriers within COVID-19 government communication, including:

• Cognitive barriers
• Sensory barriers
• Linguistic barriers
• Cultural barriers

To achieve this, we focused on:

• The format of the message
• The channels used for message dissemination
• The flow of information to target groups

Through this project, we:

1. Gathered and consolidated knowledge on removing linguistic, cognitive, cultural, and sensory barriers in COVID-19 government communication.
2. Tested communication strategies by developing two inclusive communication packages that could be directly implemented, for example, on the federal COVID-19 website.
3. Created a context- and target group-specific guideline with recommendations for inclusive COVID-19 communication that reached every Belgian resident.