Delivering Vital COVID-19 Information Around the Globe
Information Saves Lives
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 snapshot of our response through September 2020:
Internews provided support directly related to
COVID-19 in 68 countries.
Internews supported the production of COVID-related information in 135 languages.


Our program teams hosted 242 webinars on COVID-19 topics by September 2020...
...attended by 29,041 participants

82% 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
Data was collected internally by Internews’ Global MERL team in October 2020, representing activities conducted by approximately 87% of Internews projects in the 3rd quarter of 2020 (July 1- September 30, 2020)
(Banner photo: In a Dushanbe market, news outlet Vecherka distributes a special edition of the news. Credit: USAID Central Asia/Flickr)