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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It's Your Life

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Implemented by ABC Ulwazi, this project was an effort to assist the World Population Foundation (WPF) in its work to strengthen the ability of local organisations in South Africa to address the reproductive health (RH) needs of their communities. The main focus area for this project was the Limpopo province. Training was provided for community radio stations; radio programmes in Venda and Pedi were produced to highlight RH issues.
Communication Strategies

Communications strategies included:

  • Linking community radio stations with local organisations active in the field of RH and rights
  • Identifying RH issues relevant to the local communities
  • Producing a series of radio programmes in Venda and Pedi based on these issues
  • Distributing these programmes to participating community radio stations in the Limpopo province for broadcast in December 2003
  • Training presenters/producers on radio programmes to combine the series with open microphone programmes, phone-in programmes, interviews, and discussion panels
  • Training NGOs in how to work with community radio stations and to provide a platform for further collaboration with WPF
Development Issues

Reproductive Health, Rights.

Key Points

According to organisers, "The project succeeded in forming a close bond between the community radio stations and the major NGO's as well as creating entertaining and educational radio material to inform and educate the public about reproductive rights." They claim that, through the project, radio stations gained a better understanding of RH and rights issues, while NGOs gained a better understanding of the participative nature of community radio. This synchronicity, they say, will be enhanced by the development of listeners' clubs. They also hope that the training sessions will provide a paradigm for ABC Ulwazi to develop in the future; the input of the NGO's and community radio stations was invaluable.

Partners

ABC Ulwazi, WPF.

Sources

Letter sent from Tammy Baldwin to Soul Beat Africa on February 11 2004.