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.
 
Co-founder Victoria Martin is pleased to see this work continue under Wits' leadership. Victoria knows that co-founder Warren Feek (1953–2024) would have felt deep pride in The CI Global's Africa-led direction.
 
We honour the team and partners who sustained The CI for decades. Meanwhile, La Iniciativa de Comunicación (CILA) continues independently at lainiciativadecomunicacion.com and is linked with The CI Global site.
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Kenyan Alliance of Health and Science Journalists (KAHSR)

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"Inarguably, media coverage of health, science and technology issues is a critical component of any strategy to improve the external image of a developing country - as well as the prospects of its citizens. Therein lies one of the most difficult challenges for African media - strengthening the capacity of journalists to produce coverage that counteracts negative Western reportage. But the goal of improving basic skills for many African reporters can be daunting at best."

Confronted with this challenge, in 2010, international media consultant Rachel Jones developed a training programme for Kenyan journalists entitled the Kenyan Alliance of Health and Science Reporters (KAHSR). The ultimate goal was to empower them to define themselves as trained science journalists.

Communication Strategies

The KAHSR strategy involved a targeted approach to identifying and nurturing journalists with a proven interest or expertise in covering health and science-related issues. Before launching the project, Jones identified more than two dozen reporters, either freelance or affiliated with a local media company, who already had been recipients of her mentoring and editing support in health and science. Many other reporters also expressed interest in reporting on health and research-related issues but had received no guidance or support. According to Jones, the process of connecting these reporters, through regular email briefings and informational updates, created a sense of cohesiveness and shared initiative. From October of 2010 to November 2011, Jones organised and conducted 5 half-day specialised briefings and immersion workshops for these Kenyan journalists who were seeking to build expertise in health, science, and research reporting. Carried out in different regions of Kenya, the sessions highlighted health-related topics in the news as well as the latest research and policy analysis developments. They were interspersed with email alerts with story leads and suggestions about newsworthy trends to pursue.

 

The KAHSR training strategy also involved a series of quarterly week-long training workshops and briefings, conducted in conjunction with institutions like the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). Immersion training in these types of settings, including interactions with researchers and guided writing and reporting exercises, was designed to produce a cadre of reporters with strengthened basic knowledge, comprehension, and initiative in reporting on health and science issues.

 

Here are a few examples of articles produced as part of the project:

Development Issues

Health, Science, Journalism

Key Points

In Jones' words: "Often, sincere, enthusiastic journalists, even at major media companies, have very little formal journalism training - especially at a level that could yield analytical coverage of health and science issues....However, most African media companies are not equipped to provide the kind of training, mentoring and coaching required to significantly improve content in their chosen platform. This is especially true in the realm of health and science reporting, which requires proactive analysis, reporting depth and writing creativity to truly benefit the public."

 

She asserts that, throughout the course of the KAHSR project, nearly three dozen journalists from around the country received enough direct training and mentoring support to significantly raise their science and health reporting skills. At least 3 times as many had regular exposure and access to health research and policy information, and an even broader range of journalists were exposed to the KAHSR model as a support system for improving journalism training. Jones notes that there is a growing nexus of energy around improving journalistic capacity in East Africa, so: "The KAHSR project proved to be a highly effective new millennium model for producing health and science reporting expertise..."

Partners

Funded by the Wellcome Trust.

Sources

"International Engagement Awards: Projects funded in 2010" [PDF]; and emails from Rachel Jones to The Communication Initiative on November 7 2012 and November 8 2012.