Project Background
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that the global lack of accurate, real-time data on outbreaks and a collective science-based response framework has caused the world to struggle to contain the pandemic in a timely and effective manner. In order for data-generated insights to become a trusted source of information for local, regional, and global actors to manage future outbreaks, the data architecture and information sources connecting the different pandemic phases, namely preparedness, surveillance, response and recovery, need to be examined from a multidisciplinary perspective. To achieve this, we need to establish collective intelligence capabilities that involve all stakeholders, including citizens, for enhanced understanding of problems, problem-solving and innovating, decision-making, learning, and action for global pandemic preparedness and response.
Project Objectives
The project will follow the Appreciative Inquiry methodology which classically has 4 phases to it, namely discover, dream, design and deliver. The “discover” and “dream” phases will be explored in this needs assessment with the following objectives. The “design” and “deliver” phases will be explored in another study.
- To assess awareness, relatability, and acceptability of local communities to citizen science participatory approaches for pandemic preparedness and response.
- To assess the level of readiness in communities to participate in citizen science activities and how feasible and sustainable the participatory approaches will be.
- To identify barriers and facilitators (determinants) for communities to participate in citizen science as well as existing participatory approaches in the various geographies.