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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Southern African Youth (SAY) Initiative - Southern African

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The Southern African Youth (SAY) is a sub-regional HIV and AIDS initiative through which the United Nations Foundation (UNF), the United Nations Fund for International Partnership (UNFIP) and UNAIDS seek to support and scale up HIV/AIDS interventions among the youth of southern Africa.
Communication Strategies

SAY projects have been launched in eight southern African countries.These are:

  • Angola: Improving the quality of reproductive health servicesfor high-risk, war-affected adolescent girls and other vulnerable youth in Angola
  • Botswana: Programme towards improved reproductivehealth and the promotion of safer sex among young peoplein urban areas
  • Lesotho: National partnership support to combat thetransmission of HIV and AIDS among adolescent girls
  • Malawi: Meeting the development and participationrights of adolescent girls
  • Mozambique: Joint UN support to the provincial HIVand AIDS Operational Plan of Zambézia Province
  • South Africa: Preventing the spread of HIV and AIDSand mitigating its impact in the Limpopo Province
  • Swaziland: Joint UN support to develop regional capacityto combat HIV and AIDS among adolescents
  • Zimbabwe (1): District initiatives on HIV and AIDS
  • Zimbabwe (2): Youth programme on adolescent reproductive health and HIV and AIDS
  • Subregional technical support project: Telling theStory

Young people are particularly vulnerable to HIV infection and often carry the burden of caring for sick family members. Their vulnerability is exacerbated by ignorance and misconception. Marginalised young people (including street children, refugees and migrants) are at particular risk.The course of the epidemic will depend on efforts put in place to protect youth from sexual exploitation and the prevention of STIs (including HIV), particularly among vulnerable groups.

Development Issues

HIV/AIDS

Key Points

SAY comprises nine independent projects located in eight of southern Africa's most severely affected countries, as well as a sub-regional technical support project (Telling the Story). Through the work of UN country teams, SAY aims to catalyse innovative and expanded national responses to the HIV/AIDS epidemic to meet the needs of the youth in southern Africa, especially girls, who are most vulnerable to HIV infection.The main objectives of the SAY projects are:

  • to help prevent the spread of HIV and, particularly, to address the vulnerability of girls to infection
  • to improve reproductive health services for youth

Partners
Unf/Unaids

Sources

Source: UNODC PDF file on April 5, 2004