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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Life Skills Research and Materials Development

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Life Skills Research and Materials Development is a project that aims to develop, test, and evaluate a package of interventions aimed at increasing knowledge and understanding of sexually transmitted infections (STIs)/HIV/AIDS and reducing the prevalence of these infections among youth (both in and out of school). Launched by DramAide and the African Medical Research Foundation (AMREF), the project was facilitated with students, teachers, and community volunteers in schools and communities in the region of Mtubatuba and Phindia in Northern KwaZulu-Natal.
Communication Strategies

This project involved the following activities:

  • Reviewing various models of life skills/sexuality education and their impact
  • Developing and refining a package of interventions to address sexual and reproductive health, including STIs/HIV/AIDS among in- and out-of-school youth
  • Testing, evaluating and modifying where necessary the developed model
  • Evaluating the model's impact using the developed behavioural indicators.
  • Documenting the process, challenges, and impact made among young people.

The project had two sub-projects that generated separate resource packages for for both primary and secondary schools. The Nako Okwethu and Woza Nazo projects created and distributed items to teachers and community educators through workshops. The items created included:

  • Bags with logos and message
  • Manuals for teachers that contain a section on facilitation skills and three topical sections on Human Rights, Relationships and Culture, and Challenging Stereotypes. These manuals provide outcome-based education (OBE) lesson plans in detail, with stories, roleplay, fact sheets, and advice on assessment methods. The book is in English, with some Zulu subheadings and songs
  • Sets of programme cards for learners in both English and Zulu. They are designed to be used for small group work and consist of stories, roleplays, and facts (as in the guide book)
  • Sets of 32 character cards that feature cartoon characters and that are used to stimulate roleplay and to challenge stereotypes
  • Sets of 4 mini posters that provide information on how to make a play and other action media. They are designed to hang in the classroom.
Development Issues

Health, Children, Youth, HIV/AIDS.

Key Points

DramAide is a collaboration between the Universities of Natal and Zululand.

Partners

DramAide and AMREF.

Sources

DramAide 2004 annual report.

Comments

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Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 04/07/2005 - 04:58 Permalink

This page is very useful it updates me ,it gives me materials.
check on my work and see how it is relavent www.lichi.org