Development action with informed and engaged societies

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 - The Care for Health Campaign

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Date
Practices
Almost half of women surveyed who did not use contraception in 1996 in Ekaterinburg (the intervention site) adopted a modern contraceptive method by 1998, as compared to one-third of non-users in 1996 in Perm, the comparison site. Further, the number of those using contraceptives increased from 46% to 58.1 % in Ekaterinburg in the two years between surveys, as compared to an increase from 43% to 47.9% in Perm during that period.

In addition to these survey results, statistics collected from Ekaterinburg as well as other regions (oblasts) show dramatic increases in clinic attendance in the two-year period: 10% in Tver oblast family planning clinics, 12% in Ivanovo, and 50% in Ekaterinburg. There were also longer contraceptive continuation rates: 78.5% of those who were exposed to the intervention and who were using contraceptives in 1996 continued contraceptive use in 1998, as compared to 67.9% of those not exposed to the intervention.
Increased Discussion of Development Issues
This initiative, along with other activities conducted as part of the larger Women's Reproductive Health Program (WRHP), resulted in increased family planning counseling for women in the postpartum and postabortion period. Over half of those in the intervention group in Ekaterinburg (58.2%) talked to a doctor or nurse about family planning after giving birth (as compared to 44.2% of those in the comparison group in Perm); 21.1% of those exposed to the intervention (as compared to 9.1% of those not exposed) left the hospital after their most recent delivery with modern methods of contraception or a prescription.

Similarly, 56.1% in the intervention group talked to a doctor or nurse about family planning following an abortion (as compared to 45.2% of those not exposed to the campaign); and 29% in the intervention group as compared to 21.7% of those in Perm left the hospital post-abortion with a modern contraception method or a prescription.
Source
Communication Impact, April 2000, Number 9, Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs.