Gather information
Your initial consideration of what influences the issue should have identified many questions. With the resources you have, find out as much as you can to start answering those questions, involving as many actors as you can.
This might include efforts to understand the population group exposed to disaster risk, the problem and the wider context to inform a tailored disaster risk communication plan.
Contents of Disaster Risk Communication Hub
You will also need a clear understanding of the media and communication environment to identify a range of issues, including what sources of information your target audience trusts, how they share information, what languages they prefer to use, who influences them, and any overlooked groups or communication needs.
Ideally, you will have sufficient time and funding to conduct primary research to develop an evidence-based communication plan. However, even with very limited resources, you can find out valuable information from reading reports or having a series of conversations with people from different groups and practitioners from different sectors who can deepen your understanding of the situation.
The RiCA Research Guide for Disaster Risk Communication contains extended guidance that will help you gather information across the layers of influence in the model mentioned earlier. It provides resources for managers and communicators to guide desk research as well as resources for researchers conducting primary research.
It covers key research questions, desk research sources, possible methodologies and suggested interview questions to consider using to help you better understand at-risk populations, underlying problems and local contexts.
Topic areas span the ‘Layers of Influence’ on page 18 above: Individual factors (eg demographics, vulnerable groups, risk knowledge, perceptions, attitudes and actions); Interpersonal networks, Community networks, Organisations (eg media, private sector, schools, etc), Societal factors (eg religion, nature, gender); Governance (eg risk governance and conflict); and Media and Communication ecosystems in relation to individuals, networks, organisations and governance.