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 cila.comminitcila.com and is linked with The CI Global site.
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Maleda (Dawn)

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Maleda (Dawn) is an Ethiopian audiocassette serial drama about HIV/AIDS produced by Population Media Center (PMC) for truck drivers travelling on the highway routes between Addis Ababa and Djibouti, Ethiopia. It aims to educate listeners about the dangers of HIV/AIDS and how to avoid contracting HIV. While directed toward and originally produced for truckers and sex workers, PMC states that the series also appeals to other community members as well, including students, out-of-school youth, soldiers, construction workers, and government workers.
Communication Strategies
The series has 52 episodes and is recorded onto audiocassettes. Maleda has also been broadcast nationwide on Radio Ethiopia with support from the government. The serialised story is about "a greedy truck driver with one murder already under his belt who tries to run over another man in order to marry his fiancé. He already has one wife, to whom he's given the HIV virus because of his sexual exploits at truck stops along the highways. In a neighbouring town, a former sex worker works as a bar girl after swearing off prostitution after she contracts AIDS. Her friend also finds out she is HIV positive after taking voluntary counselling and testing and abstains from alcohol and drug use while taking necessary measures to maintain her health. Meanwhile, the hotel owner next door liberally offers condoms to sex workers and their clients who visit his hotel."

A total of 750 copies of the cassettes were distributed along the two major highways leading from Addis Ababa to Djibouti. “During 2005-2006, the programme was also broadcast nationwide on Radio Ethiopia.”
Development Issues
HIV/AIDS, Gender
Key Points
The producers believe that truckers are at risk for sexually transmitted infections such as HIV. Because they are separated from their spouses or partners for long periods of time, they are prone to engage in casual, unprotected sex with prostitutes who work the same highways.
Partners

PMC, Radio Ethiopia, the HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office of the Government of Ethiopia.

Sources

Email sent from NaHyun Cho to the Communication Initiative on July 1 2004.