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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Evaluation Report of the Better Parenting Project

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Subtitle
National Multi-Sectoral Collaboration on Behalf of Young Children

Author

  • Janet Brown
A two-week evaluation of the Better Parenting Project was conducted with multisectoral, government/NGO collaboration. The evaluation reported project success in addressing child-rearing practices related to the physical, social and emotional development of children in relationships with family members.

A number of recommendations were put forth to improve project quality and effectiveness. Some communication-related recommendations include:
  • Selection/development of new materials that reflect the integrated nature of supporting children's total development. Project materials were last developed in 1996, and hence need to be updated on a regular basis to include the latest research. Also, it was recommended that future materials draw from participant experiences and stories to create a reciprocal learning approach.
  • Ongoing training of new facilitators and refresher courses for continuing facilitators.
  • Focus groups to assess impact of programme on the participants, improve upon programmes, and develop relevant materials.
  • Active involvement of fathers and young men (for example, through joint male-female better parenting groups).

Publishers

Publication Date
Number of Pages

54

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