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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Published 21 years ago
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Meeting on the Evaluation of Communication Activities of the First round of the Synchronised NIDs in West & Central Africa

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Summary

Due to the recent outbreak of polio in Western and Central Africa, 23 countries have engaged in a series of joint National Immunisation Days (NIDs) to be held between October and December 2004. In order to facilitate the communication strategy for this project, UNICEF provided funding for several consultants. This two-day meeting was called by UNICEF/WCARO to allow the communication consultants to present the results of the first NID held in mid-October and to share and exchange ideas and experiences to be incorporated into the next round of NID’s in November. The meetings were designed to be an opportunity for the consultants to come together and impart their experiences with each other as well as providing a report to UNICEF on their progress.



Participants were forwarded a template prior to the meeting in which they were to include details of the strengths, weaknesses, and future action points they planned to pursue in the next round of NIDs in December. Presentations were made by consultants from Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, and Niger. To view a list of participants, please click here to download a PDF file. The consultants from Chad and Liberia were not able to attend. During the afternoon of the second day, consultants and UNICEF staff broke into groups for discussion and action point development in several issues areas. The meeting also produced a summary report that was then presented to the EPI (Expanded Programmes on Immunisation) meeting the following day.



Summaries of the main points of the individual presentations (in English) follow, along with the original communication matrix formats that were presented by the consultants (mostly in French). The summaries use an adapted format of the matrix which analyses different subject areas by assessing the Strengths and Weaknesses of the last round and Action Points to be followed in the run-up to the next round and beyond.

The Communication Initiative would like to provide two caveats to the following information. First, the translations of the communication consultants’ presentations were not performed by a Francophone staff member and thus may be subject to slight differences in interpretation. Second, it must be stressed that the consultant reports for these countries do not necessarily represent the actual communication priorities and policies of the national governments and ministries of health.

*Presentations are in alphabetical order
by country. Click on the titles to read the summaries.

Benin

Executive Summary

Full Report Summary



Cameroon

Executive Summary

Full Report Summary



Central African Republic (CAR)

Executive Summary

Full Report Summary



Cote d’Ivoire

Executive Summary

Full Report Summary



Ghana

Executive Summary

Full Report Summary



Niger

Executive Summary

Full Report Summary



Togo

Executive Summary

Full Report Summary