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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Immunisation Communication Strategy - Burkina Faso

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A communication strategy to improve the number of children with full immunisation (a series of five immunisation contacts) before age 1. The population was mobilised to actively participate in the programme through discussions and provision of information about immunisation. Other goals of the programme were to increase access to vaccination services and especially to increase the effectiveness of health workers in Burkina Faso.
Communication Strategies



This programme worked to maximise the impact of the interpersonal communication skills of health workers. Other communication tools used were: radio programmes; songs; print materials; flipcharts, forms, stickers, and posters.

Development Issues



Child Health

Key Points



There was very low literacy and overall poor health in Burkina Faso at the start of the program. Geographical areas were specified for study which had fixed EPI centers which dealt with outreach work. The objectives of the research were to evaluate over time the performance and impact of training of Health Workers, to track distribution and exposure of print materials, and to assess changes in mothers' knowledge.

Partners



BASICS, Office of Health and Nutrition of the Bureau for Global Programs, Field Support, and Research of USAID, Academy for Education Development, John Snow, Inc., and Management Sciences for Health, Communications and Marketing for Child Survival (HEALTHCOM), regional and central level Programme Elargi de Vaccination (PEV) staff of the Ministry of Health (MOH), Resources for Child Health (REACH) - USAID's Child Survival Program, Quality Assurance Project (QA)

Sources

Dr. Graeff, J.A., Shafritz, L., Bhattacharyya K, Sc.D., "Sustaining Health Worker Performance in Burkina Faso". Basics. 1997