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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Kenya Youth Initiatives Project

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A radio and advocacy programme to promote youth reproductive health. This was a mass campaign which combined entertainment-education through radio with direct lobbying of policy makers to help bring reproductive health problems to the forefront of the political debate in Kenya. The quality of the programming was highly professional. Costs were more than off-set by the overall cost-effectiveness of the whole programme.
Communication Strategies

Two radio shows broadcast weekly over the English and Kiswahili services of the Kenya broadcasting Corporation (KBC). The Youth Variety Show was a weekly hour long English-language show which had 79 episodes. The Kiswahili drama entitled Dau La Ujana was a weekly 15-minute long show with 26 episodes total.

Development Issues

Youth Reproductive Health, specifically: teenage pregnancy, HIV/AIDS and STD's, contraceptive methods, early marriage, female circumcision, boy-girl relationships, parent-youth communication, physical changes in adolescence.

Key Points

The campaign was first designed with formative research. Radio concepts and scripts were devised through workshops. The programme was especially important as it gave youth a voice to the policy makers of the country.

Partners

Kenyan Youth Initiatives Program (KYIP), Kenya Government National Council for Population and Development (NCPD), Project Advisory Committee of 26 Kenyan organizations, Family Planning Association of Kenya (FPAK), USAID, Johns Hopkins University, The Centre for the Study of Adolescence (CSA), Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), Kenya Association for the Promotion of Adolescent Health (KAPAH), Johnson and Johnson of Kenya, UNFPA.

Sources

Kiragu, K., Sienche, C., Obkawa, E., Odallo, D., and Barth, S. 1998 Adolescent Redroductive Health Needs in Kenya: A Communication response - Evaluation of the Kenya Youth Initiatives Project. The Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Centre for Communication Programs, Baltimore, USA.