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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Impact Data - Raju

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Raju was a comic book published in 1973 to promote nutritional awareness among school-aged children (grades 3, 4, and 5) in India.

Raju was designed by CARE as one of 12 media used in a nutrition education campaign in the North and South of India.

Methodologies
The comic book was evaluated in two ways:
  • children in schools where the comic had been distributed; and
  • an extensive media impact evaluation involving 2,400 interviews with adults (evaluating the impact of each of the 12 media, regardless of intended audience).
Knowledge Shifts
The comic book was effective in conveying basic ideas about food and its relation to health to the majority of those interviewed.

The booklet was also successful in conveying detailed information about the benefits of lentils and green leafy vegetables to a sizeable percentage of the students. On a series of nine specific questions, correct answers ranged from 60% to 90%.

Although the comics were distributed only to students, they were read by a significant number of adults, with over 12% of those interviewed citing the booklets as one of their sources of information about nutrition.
Access
The comic book was very popular with school children, with 95% of them indicating that they had read and enjoyed the story.
Source
Parlato, et.al. (1980); and "The Use of Mainstream Media to Encourage Social Responsibility: The International Experience" - The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation - Prepared by: Jennifer Daves and Liza Nickerson - The Media Project.