What is a Community Champion?

Community Champion

Information for Community Champions and others who are helping to build confidence in Covid-19 community testing and the vaccination programme in Kirklees. This page was last updated on 26th May 2021.

About the project

Kirklees Council’s Community Champions project aims to increase outreach, engagement and communication with residents who are disproportionately impacted by Covid-19. This includes people who have disabilities and long term health conditions, people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities and unpaid carers. Working with trusted local voices, we want to build confidence in community testing and the vaccine programme and better understand and address vaccine hesitancy, with a community-based approach.

What Community Champions do

The role of a Community Champion is about helping to build confidence in community testing and the vaccination programme, and to help Kirklees Council better understand and address vaccine hesitancy. Activities can include:

Talking to people in your local community about the Covid-19 vaccine and community testing, to address hesitancy and misinformation.
Sharing relevant information with target groups through appropriate communication channels such as leaflet drops, posters, social media, online presentations and talking to people in person.
Raising awareness of Covid-19 community testing in Kirklees and how people can access this.
Identify any people within your community who are willing to share their story and experiences to support others.
Offering practical support to assist people in accessing the Covid-19 vaccine, such as arranging transport.
Feeding back any issues, barriers or misinformation to the Community Champion Co-ordinator.
Trying out new approaches and making recommendations to encourage uptake of the Covid-19 vaccine and community testing.
Reporting any community safety or safeguarding concerns to the Community Champion Co-ordinator, to keep people safe from harm.