Together with the National Resource Center for Refugees, Immigrants, and Migrants (NRC-RIM), IDEO.org and Refugee Women’s Network co-designed a health meetup called Mothers x Mothers with a group of refugee and immigrant women to address COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in their communities. With this toolkit, organizations can plan and implement their own Mothers x Mothers meetup groups. The elements of the toolkit are informed and tested by mothers’ experiences, and create the conditions to have a judgement-free conversation around the vaccine among mothers. It’s all about connection, belonging, and autonomy.
Meetups are informal gatherings of people with shared interests or identities. Mothers x Mothers is a community health meetup for mothers to connect with each other and talk about key health issues facing their families, starting with the COVID-19 vaccine. It is a time for mothers to:
- Take a break from the labor of caregiving.
- Connect with other mothers and counter the isolation of life in a new country
- Share health concerns in a safe environment and get reliable information from trusted peers
The toolkit includes four sections:
- Plan: This planner consists of a set of checklists that any organization can use to spark thinking and account for the logistics ahead of hosting a meetup.
- Promote: Create digital or print invites tailored to the communities you are serving. Fun and friendly, they serve as a first look into the meetup.
- Prepare: This guide provides an a detailed look at the pre-meetup activities, instructions and facilitation tips for the meetup presentation slides, and how to conduct a post-meetup interview.
- Present: This section has everything you need to run a meetup around the COVID-19 vaccine. The slides include speaking notes, and there is also an agenda, sign-in sheet, and other downloads to make your event successful. Follow-up with mothers with WhatsApp scripts, videos, flyers and more.
