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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Ghana SportHealth

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In December 2001, a delegation of athletes travelled to Ghana to kick off Ghana's SportHealth programme and a campaign to immunise the nation's infants against five deadly diseases with one new vaccine. The campaign was launched at the Sport and Immunization Festival, whose purpose was to highlight the fact that children's right to play cannot be exercised without good health. Originally launched by an organisation called "Olympic Aid" (renamed "Right to Play"), implementing partners include the Expanded Programme for Immunization (EPI), Ghana Education Service (GES) through the Greater Accra Sports Coordinators (GASC), Catholic Action for Street Children (CAS), and the Accra Teacher Training College (ATTC).
Communication Strategies

Ghanian children attending the festival in Accra participated in football matches, cultural dance and games, and handball and tennis. Olympic triple-gold medallist Marion Jones led track-and-field coaching workshops for the children; athlete ambassadors including equestrian Princess Haya of Jordan, American figure skater Dorothy Hamill, and African footballer-of-the-year Roger Milla emphasised the importance of both teamwork and health. In addition, 3,000 infants were immunised.

Interpersonal training to build capacity for sharing information about children's health is a key part of this effort. For instance, adults over the age of 20 years from the GASCs were trained, as were student teachers at the ATTC, Girl Guides, youth from the Teshie Orphanage, and CAS leaders in the Greater Accra Region.

The Right to Play SportHealth programme will continue in Ghana for three years. Coach/volunteers from the United States and Canada are living in Accra and working to disseminate health education messages about childhood immunisation, HIV/AIDS prevention, and physical fitness through sport and play. They are also establishing the first phase of Right to Play's Coach2Coach Program for the refugee community of Krisan-Sanzule, Ghana. The team held its first Play Day on September 22 2001, with a total of 136 children in attendance. Fifteen adults from the community volunteered their services

Development Issues

Immunisation & Vaccines, Health, HIV/AIDS, Children, Rights.

Key Points

Right to Play (formerly, Olympic Aid) is an athlete-driven humanitarian non-profit organisation using sport and play to enhance child development and build community capacity. It firmly supports the right of children to play, as recognised in the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (Article 31).

The Ghanaian Minister of Health, Kwaku Afriyie, and the Minister of Youth and Sports, Edward Osei Kwaku, also participated in the Sport and Immunization Festival, as did representatives from international organisations including the World Health Organization and UNICEF. These organisations are members of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations (GAVI), which works in partnership with The Vaccine Fund to ensure that all children have access to life-saving vaccines. Right to Play and The Vaccine Fund have worked together to implement similar programmes in other countries; click here for details.

Partners

Right to Play, The Vaccine Fund, Expanded Programme for Immunization (EPI), Ghana Education Service (GES) through the Greater Accra Sports Coordinators (GASC), Catholic Action for Street Children (CAS), and the Accra Teacher Training College (ATTC).

Sources

Ghana SportHealth page on the Right to Play website; and email from Samantha McDonald to The Communication Initiative on February 6 2006.