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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Stepping Stones and Stepping Stones Plus: A Training Package on HIV/AIDS, Gender Issues, Communication and Relationship Skills

1 comment

Author

  • Alice Welbourn
  • Alice Welbourn

Stepping Stones was originally published as a 240-page training manual offering instructions on how to run Stepping Stones workshops, which aim to enable individuals, their peers and their communities to change their behaviour - individually and together - in relation to HIV/AIDS, gender, and relationships. First created for use in communities throughout sub-Saharan Africa, it has also been adapted for use in Asia, North and Latin America, and Europe.

Stepping Stones and subsequently Stepping Stones Plus (2008) were manuals that grew out of a need to counter the prejudice and fear surrounding HIV, and to foster strong and mutually respectful relationships, free from violence and without sexually transmitted infections (STIs) or unplanned pregnancies.

Now combined into a single manual and revised and updated, Stepping Stones and Stepping Stones Plus is a training package designed to help trainers and community members organise a workshop. The training is with young and older women and men, separately and together, to explore their social, sexual, and psychological needs, to overcome their communication blocks, and to practise ways of enriching their relationships. The workshop sessions are meant to help individuals, peers, and their communities move step by step to change behaviours and to build healthy relationships.

The manual and an optional DVD describe how to organise the workshop and run structured exercises involving role play and other participatory methods of group learning. Workshop sessions are held mostly in four separate peer groups, based on self-identified age and gender groupings, with some larger meetings. The optional DVD consists of 15 short clips designed to provide participants with a springboard for discussion during the different sessions of the workshop. Click here for ordering details from Practical Action Publishing.

Publishers

Number of Pages

400

Source

Strategies for Hope website (no longer active) on June 18 2007 and October 6 2017; Salamander Trust presentation [PDF] on October 16 2017; and emails from Stepping Stones and Alice Welbourn to The Communication Initiative on October 6 2017 and October 15 2017, respectively. Image credit: Stepping Stones

PDFLink
Click here to view Stepping Stones films on a dedicated Vimeo site.
Click here to access a related presentation, "Stepping Stones and Young People…

Comments

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Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 02/27/2009 - 03:44 Permalink

Not much useful because on HIV Session its not much detailed some information its only 50% unless to get some refference on other Manuals.