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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Impact Data - Safe Sex Among Medical Students - Nairobi

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A study of the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of medical students, carried out by the Association of Medical Students of the University of Nairobi AIDS Awareness Campaign, combined practical training in quantitative and qualitative research skills with an AIDS prevention intervention for medical students at the university. This small pilot project was intended to contribute to the Family Health International AIDS Control and Prevention Project (AIDSCAP)'s overall larger campaign of peer education for worksites and higher education.

Methodologies
The medical students followed the initial focus group discussions with 2 more discussion groups that were conducted with 6 groups for a total of 119 participants. Student couples duplicated couple interactions and discussed safe sex behaviour, including abstinence, mutual monogamy, and condom use.
Knowledge Shifts
Pre-project knowledge of transmission methods of HIV was 100%. Knowledge of prevention methods increased from 73.3% to 81.3% (condoms). 73.3% advocated mutual monogamy pre-test; this percentage increased to 80.2% post-test. The percentage of people advocating abstinence increased from 59.3% to 75%.
Practices
Despite knowledge shifts, the percentage of students having sex with multiple partners increased from 18.9% to 26.3%. Besides providing information on constraints to behaviour change among medical students, evaluators found that the project was an important learning experience for student leaders on how to discuss safe sex and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).
Attitudes
Factors hindering change in behaviour included not feeling at risk (42.3%) and having one faithful partner (53.8%).
Access
119 medical students participated in the project.
Other Impacts
The authors believe that this pilot project is a model for using participatory research as a means of internalising the need for AIDS prevention while reaching students with peer education.
Source
Final Report for the AIDSCAP Program in Kenya: Country Program Description, Family Health International AIDS Control and Prevention Project - Final Report for the AIDSCAP Program in Kenya. September 1992 to December 1997 pages 159-161. A project funded by USAID.