Development action with informed and engaged societies

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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Go RED for Fidelity Campaign

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The Programme for Accessible Health, Communication and Education (PACE), in partnership with the Organization of African First Ladies against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA), the Ugandan Ministry of Health, and the Uganda AIDS Commission launched a campaign in February 2009 designed to reverse the belief that unfaithfulness is a harmless and acceptable norm. Intended for married couples, the multi-media campaign works to create an environment in which couples see fidelity as the most prevalent and desirable option.
Communication Strategies

According to the organisers, "Going RED" represents a movement of men and women who stand for mutual faithfulness in marriage. The acronym RED stands for Reliable, Exceptional, and Dependable. Organisers promote the acronym with the symbolism of what a faithful person is or what the unfaithful should aspire to be. The idea is to create a movement of fidelity ambassadors who choose to dress in red and use that to spark dialogue on the benefits of fidelity and what one can do to keep his/her marriage relationship strong. The campaign encourages married couples to wear something red as a symbol of commitment to one's spouse and to demonstrate pride in the decision to be faithful. The campaign also seeks to address, through increased risk perception, the growing challenge of multiple concurrent partnerships that are fuelling HIV infections.

Multi-media campaign materials feature a red theme and a slogan 'Go RED for Fidelity.' These materials include strategically placed billboards, posters, television and radio ads, wristbands, and viral test messages. The campaign seeks to highlight the complexity of adult sexuality, which is something that has not been approached before in Uganda.

In November 2010, the second phase of the campaign was launched by the First Lady Mrs. Janet Museveni. This phase introduces The Love Wheel which is an innovation tool aimed at strengthening marriages and promoting mutual fidelity among couples. It was developed by a team of 12 relationship experts and contains love tips for married couples.

Development Issues

HIV/AIDS

Key Points

According to the organisers, although Uganda's much-lauded 'zero-grazing' prevention campaign of the 1990s cut HIV prevalence in the adult population from about 18% to roughly 6% in 2000, rates are beginning to climb again. The zero-grazing campaign focused mainly on young unmarried people. A survey completed in 2008 found that 43% of new infections occurred in monogamous relationships, highlighting the need for prevention messages to shift from the traditional target of unmarried youth.

Another study conducted by PACE found that although the proportion of people who reported faithfulness in the past 12 months was high, the majority of respondents claimed that their friends and colleagues encouraged them to cheat and that there was limited community support for fidelity.

Partners

Programme for Accessible Health, Communication and Education (PACE), Organization of African First Ladies against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA), Ministry of Health, and Uganda AIDS Commission.

Sources
Teaser Image
http://www.comminit.com/files/Go red.jpg