The Communication Initiative
Development action with informed and engaged societies
The Communication Initiative
After nearly 28 years, The Communication Initiative (The CI) Global is entering a new chapter. Following a period of transition, the global website has been transferred to the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in South Africa, where it will be administered by the Social and Behaviour Change Communication Division. Wits' commitment to social change and justice makes it a trusted steward for The CI's legacy and future.
 
Co-founder Victoria Martin is pleased to see this work continue under Wits' leadership. Victoria knows that co-founder Warren Feek (1953–2024) would have felt deep pride in The CI Global's Africa-led direction.
 
We honour the team and partners who sustained The CI for decades. Meanwhile, La Iniciativa de Comunicación (CILA) continues independently at lainiciativadecomunicacion.com and is linked with The CI Global site.
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Published 26 years ago
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"Come, Let’s Talk" - India

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This campaign is an intensive interpersonal and mass media effort designed to destigmatise and mainstream discussion on family planning in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. The theme of the campaign, "Come, Let's Talk" uses the traditional symbols of the parrot and the mynah birds drawn from ancient storytelling forms in India.
Communication Strategies

Strategy includes: training of service providers, traditional media groups and mass media, monitoring and evaluation. It is based on some of the key tenets of the Programme of Action from the Cairo ICPD Conference: free and informed choice, a Target-Free Approach and an emphasis on spacing methods of birth control among younger couples with a low parity. Activities and materials include: Interpersonal Communication (IPC) materials (calenda, posters, stickers, bag, desk calendar, mailer-cum-wall-chart), IPC training and orientation of field staff, folk media (the nautanki, the quawali, puppetry and allaha/bifha), Mass media campaign (radio and TV), tracking and evaluation. Target audience is couples from 17-25 years old currently not using contraceptives.
Development Issues

Family planning, population.
Key Points

Uttar Pradesh in north India is the most populous state in India. In terms of population, the state is larger than all but six countries in the world. Uttar Pradesh is a tradition-bound state, with some of the poorest socio-economic indicators in the country. The campaign is probably the first comprehensive and scientifically designed communication intervention in family planning in India.
Partners



A project of the State Innovations in Family Planning Services (SIFPSA) project supported by USAID with technical assistance from the Johns Hopkins University/ Population Communications Services.

Sources

Paper submitted to The Communication Initiative by Nirupama Sarma.