Community engagement and peer support

Before you join

• Join a group only if someone you know and trust sends you the link or adds you. This can be a friend, your group leader or an organisation you know.
• Find out who runs the group.
• Read the group rules.
• A good group has rules and people who look after it. You can leave it at any time.
• On WhatsApp, someone adds you, or sends you a link or QR code. Open it and tap "Join group".
• On Facebook, open the group and tap "Join group". A private group may ask a few questions. Then the people who run it say yes or no.

What others can see on WhatsApp

In most WhatsApp groups, everyone can see your phone number. Think about this before you join.

WhatsApp is adding usernames. With a username, people who do not have your number see the username instead. You may not have it yet.

In WhatsApp, open Settings, then Privacy, and check these:

• Groups: choose "My contacts". Then only people in your contacts can add you to a group. Others can only send you an invite.

• Profile photo: choose "My contacts" or "Nobody".

• WhatsApp help: privacy settings (opens in a new tab)

Facebook groups

• In a public group, anyone can see the posts and who the members are.

• In a private group, only members can see them.

• A private group can become public later. Then anyone on Facebook can see who the members are.

• Some groups let you post without your name. The people who run the group can still see who you are.

• Facebook help: public and private groups (opens in a new tab)

What to share, and what to keep private

You can share:

• what you did, like a walk or a stretch
• how you felt, and what helped you
• what was hard, and what you are proud of

Keep these private:

• your address, your phone number, where you work and where you are right now
• photos of your ID card, passport, bank card or papers with your details
• passwords, and codes that come by text message
• photos of other people, unless they say yes

Anything you post can be copied and sent on by others. So do not send other people's messages outside the group.

You can take part just by reading. You do not have to post.

Share your own experience, not medical advice. "This helped me" is fine. "You should take this" is not.

Everyone's body is different. Do not compare bodies or weight.

Scams and bad advice

• Stop, think, check. Wait if a message rushes you, scares you or offers a prize.
• Do not pay anyone online who promises help or papers. Help from UNHCR is free.
• Look at the web address before you type anything. One wrong letter can mean it is fake.
• If a friend asks for money or a code, call her on the number you already know.
• For health advice, ask: Who wrote it? Is it new? Do your country's health authorities or the World Health Organization say the same? Then ask your doctor or nurse.
• Be careful with "miracle cures", and with pills or diets that promise to fix everything.

If you lost money or gave away your details, contact your bank and the police.

Mute, leave or report

• Mute a group if there are too many messages. Nobody is told.

• You can leave a group at any time. On WhatsApp, the people who run the group are told. Other members can still see your name and number in the group's past members for up to 60 days. On Facebook, members are not told.

• On WhatsApp, you can report a person or a group that worries you. They are not told. Reporting a group also takes you out of it.

• You can also block a person. In a group you share, that person can still read what you write.

• WhatsApp help: leave a group (opens in a new tab)

• WhatsApp help: block and report (opens in a new tab)

• Facebook help: leave a group (opens in a new tab)

If you start a group

• Choose two people to run it.

• Write a few short rules with the group, like the example rules that follow.

• On WhatsApp, turn on "Approve new members". Let only the people who run the group add members or share the link.

• Tell members that others in the group can usually see their phone number.

• On Facebook, make the group private.

• Tell members how to raise a problem, and that they can leave at any time.

• WhatsApp help: group admin settings (opens in a new tab)

Example rules:

• Be kind.
• No selling, and no asking for money.
• Ask before you share a photo of someone.
• No ID or bank details.
• Share your experience, not medical advice.

For groups that meet in person, read the facilitator guide.

The VITALITY group

A VITALITY WhatsApp group for women who use this toolkit is coming soon. Read about it in WhatsApp support groups.