The TOSEMBERERA (Keep a Distance) Campaign

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, global health organizations rushed to distribute life-saving guidelines. Wash your hands. Keep your distance. Stay home. But while these instructions were scientifically sound, they often felt clinical, top-down, and disconnected from the daily realities of local communities.

Recognizing this gap, a dedicated group of local experts decided to change the narrative. Members of the African Society for Social and Behaviour Change (AS-SBC) came together to co-create “Tosemberera”—a campaign that would ultimately transform Uganda’s national pandemic response and provide a blueprint for crisis communication worldwide.

Here is the story of how they did it, and why local networks are the secret weapon in global health crises.

1. Translating Science into Social Norms

The core challenge of the pandemic wasn’t just a lack of information; it was a lack of culturally resonant information. Complex epidemiological guidelines don’t automatically translate into everyday behavior.

AS-SBC members stepped in to bridge this divide. Instead of relying on rigid, clinical directives, they rooted the campaign in local idioms and vernacular. They shifted the framing from individual isolation to “collective protection”—an idea deeply aligned with community-oriented values. By doing this, the campaign successfully reframed abstract health rules into relatable, shared social norms.

2. Scaling from Grassroots to National Strategy

What started as a targeted effort by local behavioral experts quickly caught the attention of major public health players. The impact of the messaging was so undeniable that the Ugandan Ministry of Health officially adopted Tosemberera as its national strategy.

But the momentum didn’t stop at the border. Recognizing the campaign’s success in truly connecting with the public, international powerhouse agencies—including UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), and WaterAID—integrated elements of Tosemberera into their broader regional response efforts across East Africa.

3. Impact by the Numbers

To understand the sheer scale of the Tosemberera campaign, look at its reach within Uganda alone:

By leveraging a multi-channel approach—utilizing the massive reach of traditional radio and TV alongside the highly engaging voices of digital influencers—the campaign ensured that no community was left in the dark.

The Lasting Legacy: A New Model for Crisis Response

The success of Tosemberera proved a vital point: local professional networks can respond to crises faster and with far greater cultural accuracy than traditional, slow-moving global agencies.

Beyond the immediate pandemic numbers, the campaign achieved a lasting structural victory. It led to a measurable standardization of prevention and health language across Uganda, proving that when you trust local experts to speak to their own communities, the results are both immediate and enduring.

Tosemberera showed the world that in a global crisis, the most powerful solutions are often grown right at home.