At the onset of COVID-19 as a global pandemic, Internews recognized that information providers – arguably the most vital defense to the disease – were under threat.

As journalists scrambled to cover the impact of the coronavirus, they grappled with a bitter irony: demand for information soared, but the business model funding media was in continued collapse.

Furthermore, many governments use the pandemic to justify suspending human rights, elections, and checks on their power – making the work of independent media more important than ever.

The work of Internews – to support and grow local, trusted, accurate sources of information – has never been more needed. We responded by launching new programs and redesigning existing projects to meet information needs on the ground.

A snapshot¹ of our response from April to June 2020:

87% of our projects redesigned activities in response to COVID-19

of projects adapted in-person gatherings (conferences, forums, roundtables, etc) to an online space

of projects adapted in-person training modules (on any topics) to deliver as distance learning

of projects provided a learning resource of any kind (webinar, guidelines, toolkit) on COVID-19 topics

of projects provided grants or funding to support recipients’ COVID-19 topics

of projects provided mentoring or training on COVID-19 topics

of projects pivoted in other ways

View a PDF version of Delivering Vital COVID-19 Information Around the Globe

¹ Data was collected internally by Internews’ Global MERL team in August 2020, representing activities conducted by approximately 80% of Internews projects in the 2nd quarter of 2020 (April 1-June 30, 2020)

(Banner photo: In a Dushanbe market, news outlet Vecherka distributes a special edition of the news. Credit: USAID Central Asia/Flickr)