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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Rural Health Rehabilitation Project - Mozambique

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Started in 1998 as a community effort to ensure STD prevention, attitude and behaviour change through information and education at both a medical and cultural level. By ensuring that STD prevention and patient care were a focus of both the Ministry of Health and of health care activities at the grassroots level a whole range of activities made a substantial contribution to improving the screening and treatment of STD's in urban and rural areas.
Communication Strategies

Information campaigns in schools by the Ministry of Education reached youth, and an educational travelling theatre supported by the community reached truck drivers in rural areas. The community defined the procedure, level of service for the diagnosis and treatment of STD infections and trained doctors, nurses and health workers.
Development Issues

STD's, HIV/AIDS.
Key Points

After a long civil war, poverty and violence were commonplace, with families and social structures displaced and dispersed, resulting n an increase in the risk of infection by STD's including HIV/AIDS. Priority was given to densely populated areas and to the highest risk groups of pregnant women and youth.
Partners



Ministries of Health and Education, European Commission

Sources

"Development" European Commission, (Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 1998) December 1998, p. 29.