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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BBC WST Leprosy Project - All Singing and Dancing

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Summary

Many people in India continue to have very little access to mass media, particularly in remote areas with significant tribal and scheduled-caste communities.


The BBC World Service Trust supported more than 1,700 live theatre performances in villages, small towns and urban slums throughout the project's five focus states to widen the reach of the campaign messages.


Approximately 500,000 people attended these dialect-based performances, which were based on popular-entertainment forms, including folk songs, magic shows and drama.


The Trust aimed to maximise audience participation and ensured the presence of a local government health officer at each show to advise on diagnosis and provide referrals to local health clinics.


The results, as measured by the ORG Centre for Social Research, showed that the song and drama performances were successful in improving knowledge about symptoms and treatment, while reducing myths and stigma.





Comparisons were made between villages that had seen song and drama performances and those that had not. The performances had a major impact on people's willingness to associate with leprosy patients.




For more information, please see The Drum Beat 133.