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

Time to read
1 minute
Print
a- a+
Published 21 years ago
Last updated 1 year ago
Read so far

Effects of Folk Music and Community Outreach Drama Performances on HIV and AIDS Awareness in Niger State of Nigeria

0 comments
Affiliation

Department of Agricultural Extension & Rural Development, University of Ibadan - presented at the 4th International Entertainment-Education Conference, Cape Town, 2004

Summary

The presentation shares the experiences of using participatory drama and folk music in a campaign to address issues of gender inequality and HIV/AIDS in Nupeland of Niger State, Nigeria. A drama was performed at various outreach programmes to create awareness on the dangers of gender discrimination in education, and folk music by a popular musical group was used to create awareness about HIV/AIDS.



According to the paper, music is deeply rooted in most cultures across the globe. There are several advantages to using folk music to educate rural audience. It is popular, can provide immediate feedback, is inexpensive and comes from a perceived credible source. The presenter mentions that music has been used for development purposes across the globe and positive results have been achieved.

According to the prsenter, in focus group discussions, almost all the discussants attributed their awareness of HIV and AIDS and related reproductive health issues to the drama and folk music (played in live performances and later recorded on audio tapes). According to the discussions, drama seems to enjoy relative popularity on preference rating of the two sources compared to music. About two – third (74%) of the discussants highly preferred the drama sketches compared to about one – third (33%) who preferred music. The probable explanation for this finding with particular reference to this study area and the intervention programme could be the live performances by the main actor - Ndayagi in the drama during outreach programmes. Ndayagi is a popular radio actor of nearly four decades whom the audience long to see in live situation rather than on radio. Seeing Ndayagi in live drama scenes and performance during this period undoubtedly increased people’s belief, association, and identifying with the programme for the period it lasted, and eventual popularity of the entire intervention programme.


This document is no longer available online. For information related to this presentation, please see contact details below.

Source

Entertainment Education (EE) Conference website (no longer active) in 2004.