"Improving the capacity of volunteers is one of the efforts to stem the spread of COVID-19 in the region by disseminating information about the importance of health protocols to the public," Head of the Logistics Sub-Sector of the COVID-19 Task Force Yono Reksoprodjo stated in Padang on Tuesday.
The capacity-building activity for one thousand COVID-19 Volunteers in the Padang Raya region was hosted on October 10-16, 2021, with several subjects encompassing prevention, dissemination, 3M policies, 3T (Tracing, Treatment, Testing) movement, volunteers and volunteerism, effective communication techniques, and the use of the BLC (United Against COVID-19) volunteer monitoring instrument.
"Within these five days, a volunteer training session will be held every day that is divided into four classes, with a total of 25 participants in each class. Thus, the total number of participants in the volunteer training program reaches one thousand, with 200 volunteers participating in the training every day," Reksoprodjo noted
He expects volunteers to partake in the training well and pass on the knowledge gained to family members and the public in their respective environments.
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Reksoprodjo also expressed optimism that they will function as agents of behavioral change to inspire and foster hope in terms of COVID-19 handling in the Padang Raya region.
Junior Policy Analyst of Deputy Prevention at the National Disaster Mitigation Agency Hadi Sutrisnola noted that precautionary and disaster management measures in Indonesia, including for handling COVID-19, necessitate the involvement of stakeholders as stipulated in the Pentahelix synergy.
"All ranks of the regional government must understand this concept, specifically joint collaboration involving the government, academics, the business world, mass media, and all levels of society," he affirmed.
Head of the West Sumatra Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency Erman Rahman noted that the involvement and cooperation of all parties played a significant role in controlling the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.
Volunteers must act to disseminate information and encourage the use of masks in the people's daily activities.
"If this can be realized, then we can be certain that the level of exposure to COVID-19 in the community will decrease significantly," Rahman affirmed.
He expects that the provided training can boost the volunteers' confidence to be on the frontlines to educate the public on the importance of following the 3M health protocols.
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Translator: Miko Elfisha, Mecca Yumna
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
Copyright © ANTARA 2021
