Building community on WhatsApp

Around the world, governments play an important role in keeping their communities safe and informed. As a government organisation, this also brings challenges, such as communicating quickly, safely and at scale. Messaging has become an essential part of people's everyday lives as they increasingly use it for personal conversations, as well as communications with governments, businesses and other organisations.

In fact, a Facebook-commissioned survey of 5,000 adults showed that 57% of people thought it important to have the option to engage with governments via messaging apps.

For government organisations, WhatsApp is a safe and secure way to connect with communities where they are highly engaged.

Government organisations can connect with people using the WhatsApp Business app or the WhatsApp Business platform (API).

Using the WhatsApp Business app

The WhatsApp Business app is ideal for smaller government organisations, such as local councils or frontline health workers, who want to communicate with a specific group of people in an easy, personalised way.

Recent events, such as the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and natural disasters, have emphasised the importance of timely and accurate communication from local and municipal governments, as much as their larger counterparts, especially in times of crisis.

Here are some examples of how you might use the WhatsApp Business app:

• Letting people know the opening hours and location of a particular local authority or government department using away or greeting messages
• Providing people with information on a local council's range of community welfare services using a catalogue
• Having a one-to-one or one-to-many (up to eight participants) voice or video call with constituents about a specific topic
• Sharing local news or alerts about road closures or flood warnings in your area using Stories
• Combine with WhatsApp web for quick and easy one-to-one communication

Watch this video for step-by-step instructions on getting set up on the WhatsApp Business app.

Using the WhatsApp Business platform

WhatsApp's Business platform enables government entities, non-governmental organisations, charitable organisations, civil society and other civic actors with programmatic access needs, to reach and connect with users. The WhatsApp Business platform is for quick communication at scale, ideal for larger, more complex organisations where a significant volume of questions and conversations might be expected.

This includes large government organisations, such as a Ministry of Health or an electoral authority. With the business platform, integration with backend systems, such as a government CRM or other database, is more seamless, which means that using the WhatsApp Business platform is more efficient as part of a wider, planned effort to communicate with your community, as opposed to more ad hoc updates or conversations.

Contact us to check your eligibility for the WhatsApp Business platform.

Here are some examples of how you might use the WhatsApp Business platform:

• Provide time-sensitive and mission-critical information regarding crisis support and assistance (e.g. humanitarian organisations disseminating information about evacuation plans and shelter).
• Provide relevant information about available services (e.g. health organisation disseminating information about vaccinations).
• Provide access to available public service delivery (e.g. social services authority enabling citizens to sign up for food services and rations).
• Enable citizens to request information about government services (e.g. citizens communicating with a chatbot to get information on passport renewals).
• Enable citizens to report problems or file complaints (e.g. reporting incidents of abuse).
• Provide authoritative information related to elections and voting (e.g. electoral authorities or third-party fact-checkers sharing information about voting procedures).

How to access the WhatsApp Business platform

Governmental entities must work with a Solutions Partner (formerly known as Business Service Provider) to access the WhatsApp Business platform. A directory of Solution Partners is available here. The partner directory is provided for reference only, and you should conduct your own due diligence of any company that you choose to work with. Companies listed are badged Meta Business Partners. Inclusion in this directory is not an endorsement from Meta

For further information and support on this topic, read more here.

How to comply with the WhatsApp Business platform entity-level restrictions

Currently, the following entities are not permitted to use the WhatsApp Business platform:

• Political parties, politicians and political candidates
• Law enforcement agencies, military services, national security and intelligence agencies
• Non-governmental entities that offer any services related to politics, political candidates, political campaign strategy, political campaigning services, private companies that provide voting solutions and systems for elections, and exclusive government service providers

However, these entities are permitted to use the WhatsApp Business app with restrictions. Please review best practices on how to use WhatsApp responsibly, guidelines for WhatsApp channels, and guidelines around WhatsApp and elections and prohibitions on political campaigning.