The  Breakthrough  ACTION   for  COVID-19  program, supported by The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is helping to expand access to COVID-19 vaccinations in Indonesia. Through the close collaboration with the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia, Breakthrough ACTION has developed and disseminated the Community Engagement (CE) toolkits to help health workers across Indonesia provide valid and reliable information to local communities to protect themselves against COVID-19. This kit also aims to convince and build up awareness on the importance of COVID-19 vaccination, particularly for the vulnerable people such as the elderly.

Training sessions were conducted in the five selected Breakthrough ACTION  provinces (Riau, West Kalimantan, South Sulawesi, East Java, and East Nusa Tenggara). At the district level,  294 facilitators were trained. Facilitators, consisting of representatives of local government,  health and social workers, local community organizations, and the USAID implementing partners were trained on how to use CE kits properly.

Upon the completion of the facilitator training, facilitators conducted training for cadres, health workers, volunteers, and other community members to be the “agents of change”. More than 2,900 “agents of change” were trained in 87 trainings held at the local public health centres (Puskesmas) in 10 districts. The sessions focused on guidance on how to use the CE toolkits with the community.

The agents of change have committed themselves to reaching out to large numbers of people in the communities they serve to spread the importance of COVID-19 vaccination messages using the toolkits. They will reach approximately more than 110,000 people in 10 districts are through June, 2022. They will put their best efforts forward to reach out to communities in remote areas, where they must travel far, some spending 8-12 hours on a traditional speed boat to engage communities around COVID-19 vaccination discussions. This shows their determination and hope that  eventually  these  collective  actions will increase the people’s confidence to get vaccinated

and complete their doses.

Up to this point, the CE toolkits have proved to be handy in ensuring that the information about COVID-19 provided to the public is valid, trusted, and reliable. With the public health officials from the national down to the local level supporting the successive collaborative actions from the local implementing partners, the CE toolkits will reach thousands of people in Indonesia and more in the future.