UMN Students Support the Acceleration of COVID-19 Vaccinations in Yogyakarta Through Heltikom Internship

‘Heltikom’ Instagram Content from the Jogja Team.
(Doc. Instagram.com/heltikom)

Tangerang – In support of the acceleration of COVID-19 vaccination in vulnerable areas, Australia Indonesia Health Security Partnership (AIHSP) collaborated with the Communications Faculty (Fakultas Ilmu Komunikasi/FIKOM) of Multimedia Nusantara University (UMN). The two parties collaborated on a project called “Nusantara Health Security Project” (NHSP), declared last February 2022.

After going through the kick-off phase in February 2022, this collaboration project between UMN and AIHSP has been running since March 2022 which involves 18 intern students from FIKOM UMN. The project did communication campaigns through social media by applying “Risk Communication.” This communication campaign aims to change elderly and disabled people’s behaviors and perspectives regarding the pandemic and COVID-19 vaccinations.

The NHSP internship project eventually debuted on social media with the name “Heltikom.” The campaign used two main platforms: Instagram and Facebook, with “Heltikom” as their social media handles. The name “Heltikom” is a combination of “health” and “communication.” The combination of the two words mirrors the enthusiasm of the project which aims to create behavioral change through risk communication and realize joint health. Heltikom’s social media is present among netizens as the source of information and communication on COVID-19 vaccinations for elderly and disabled people in Indonesia.

As for the project’s implementation, NHSP divided the student interns into three teams where each group will take on three working areas, which became AIHSP’s main focus in Indonesia. The area is Bali, South Sulawesi, and the Special Region of Yogyakarta. Specifically, the next section of this article will discuss the campaigns conducted by the Yogyakarta Heltikom Team.

“The #KanggoWongKinasih campaign was conducted so that the elderly and disabled in the Yogyakarta province want to get vaccinated and follow the COVID-19 health protocols. In action, we focus on the elderly since Yogyakarta is an area with the highest elderly population in Indonesia. The approach is that we first target the X generation to (then) educate the elderlies,” Kevin Hernando, the Campaign Planner from Yogja Heltikom Team, said.

The campaign implemented by Yogja Heltikom Team wants to spread its message: “convince the elderlies and disabled to get vaccinated and help them be ready to get together with their families.” This core message is then realized through several multimedia content distributed through their main platform, Instagram and Facebook. Present with an essential element, the Yogja Heltikom Team created the tag #KanggoWongKinasih which was continuously used in this communication campaign. The hashtag uses Javanese vocabulary, meaning “for the sake of loved ones.” This goes with the campaign’s first aim to get everyone to be able to reunite with their families safely.

Aiming to target the Javanese people’s emotions, the campaign is also completed with the slogan, “eling karo Gusti, Ian waspodo karo penyakit,” adapted from a prevalent Javanese philosophy “eling Ian waspodo.” The slogan aims to spread a message to remember and piety towards God, but also always to be wary of diseases which, in this context, COVID-19.

In addition to focusing on producing and developing content on social media, the campaign also involves external parties to broaden the working space and accelerate the campaign’s effects. For that, the Yogja Heltikom Team joined with a local community which is the Alumnus of the Stella Duce Jogjakarta High School which the majority of the members are Gen X and elderlies. This becomes a synergic effort from this communication campaign to target elderlies. The Stella Duce Jogjakarta High School alumnus who joined the campaign were advised on the importance of vaccinations for elderlies; so that they would voluntarily get vaccinated.

The Jogja Heltikom Team has 6 members from FIKOM UMN. Each member is responsible for: Campaign Planning, Community and Media Relations, Copywriter & Content writer, Social Media Strategist, Visual Designer, and Videographer. To know more about Heltikom, you can access it through this link.

By Virino Miracle (Intern Heltikom/Mahasiswa UMN) & Gabriella Titania (Intern Heltikom/Mahasiswa UMN)

English translation by Levina Chrestella Theodora

Kuliah di Jakarta untuk jurusan program studi Informatika| Sistem Informasi | Teknik Komputer | Teknik Elektro | Teknik Fisika | Akuntansi | Manajemen| Komunikasi Strategis | Jurnalistik | Desain Komunikasi Visual | Film dan Animasi | Arsitektur | D3 Perhotelan , di Universitas Multimedia Nusantara. www.umn.ac.id