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. 

On the transfer, co-founder Victoria Martin expressed her pleasure to see this work continue under Wits' leadership, knowing that co-founder Warren Feek (1953–2024) would have felt deep pride in The CI Global's Africa-led direction. 

As Wits, we honour the team and partners who sustained The CI for decades and look forward building from that strong base. This includes co-founders Warren Feek (1953-2024) and Victoria Martin as well as La Iniciativa de Comunicación (CILA), which continues independently at lainiciativadecomunicacion.com with links to The CI Global site. We are also eager to forge new partnerships and entertain new ideas as we consider how best to contribute to social and behaviour change in our rapidly evolving environment.

If you are joining the International Social and Behaviour Change Communication (SBCC) Summit in Panama, please join Wits and CILA on Monday, 22 June, to share your thoughts and suggestion for the relaunch of the Communication Initiative. We will be in Pacifica 5 from 12-1:25 for the Refuel, Reflect, and Renew Lunch Series: The Communication Initiative: celebrating a driving force for Communication for Social Change and the way forward. We will reflect on the legacy of Warren Feek and family in creating the Communication Initiative, consider the contributions of CI over the years and then turn our attention towards the future in this dynamic session. 

If you are unable to join us in Panama, we still want to hear from you. Please contribute your thoughts by following this link: https://redcap.link/CommunicationInitiative2026 or reaching out to ci_surveys@commint.com. 

You can also follow the QR Code:

 https://redcap.link/CommunicationInitiative2026

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Enhancing Behavior Change Communication - Africa

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This is a project that uses communication to address family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH) issues in sub-Saharan Africa. Project organisers believe that in the context of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, FP/RH requires a significant expansion of education and services throughout the region.

They say new strategies linking reproductive health and HIV/AIDS interventions in prevention, care, and support must also be developed. The project aims to connect more women, men, and adolescents with FP/RH services in East, West, and Southern Africa.
Communication Strategies
The project uses a holistic approach to strengthen family planning/reproductive health (FP/RH) services and to develop culturally relevant behavior change approaches. These approaches address the needs of various population segments and contribute to the achievement of FP/RH programme objectives.

"We focus on enhancing effectiveness at the programme level to increase the impact and scale of service delivery programmes. Our approach places greater emphasis on strategies that can mainstream underserved populations, such as adolescents, low-parity women, postpartum women, men, and illiterate and impoverished women and men."

The programme provides technical leadership to improve both clinical and nonclinical services, including:
  • Addressing the needs of youth
  • Empowering women
  • Involving men in FP/RH decisions
  • Utilizing behavior change communication
  • Developing private/commercial sector initiatives
  • Forming links and partnerships with FP/RH and other developmental organisations (internationally, in-country, and in the United States)
Development Issues
Family Planning and Reproductive Health
Key Points
The project aims to work with various partners to increase the awareness and impact of FP/RH on the health and well being of families. It also aims to encourage the integration of FP/RH and HIV/AIDS interventions to provide a comprehensive approach to reproductive health.
Partners

Advance Africa, USAID Missions, USAID/Washington

Sources

Advance Africa website on October 30, 2003