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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Barza

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Launched in November 2011, Barza is an online social network designed especially for African radio broadcasters that seeks to increase the extent to which rural radio helps African small-scale farmers meet their food security, farming, and livelihood goals. Users can connect and share farming and broadcasting-related content, resources, and expertise, as well as work together to co-develop programmes. The project is an initiative of Farm Radio International (FRI), with support from the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), in collaboration with Digital4Good.
Communication Strategies

"Barza" is a French Congolese word with Swahili roots that means "the place where people in a village meet under a tree to talk and sort out questions concerning the community." The interactive Barza website includes news, blogs, comments, discussion forums, and content sharing features. Users can upload their own radio and farming related content, specifically radio scripts, events, photos, video, and audio. Resources are organised by topic, such as climate change, food processing and storage, water and sanitation, market information, broadcasting techniques, gender, malaria, HIV/AIDs, etc. There is also a French website for Barza.

On Barza, broadcasters have their own profile page and there is a Barza Café discussions page where users can participate in various discussions. Broadcasters and others can join Barza by registering on the site. Farm Radio International encourages new members to go to the Welcome forums to make an introduction and join an icebreaker activity with other Barza community members. On Barza, radio stations can have their own page where they can highlight the work they do.

Development Issues

Agriculture, Food Security, Livelihoods, Health

Key Points

FRI, a Canadian registered charity with regional offices in Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Mali, uses radio combined with other ICTs to serve small-scale farmers. They have been using radio to help African smallholder farmers for three decades. They send information about low-cost ways to improve food security to over 400 radio stations across 39 countries. FRI packages - in French and English - cover topics from improving soil fertility to coping with climate change. Local broadcasters use this information and translate it into over 100 African languages. RFI offers an electronic news service to over 1,500 African subscribers and provides training to broadcasters to improve their skills in serving smallholders.

 

Based in Cape Town, South Africa, Digital4Good helps charities make the most of digital media so that they can embrace digital technologies to engage more with their supporters, increase awareness of their cause, and achieve their fundraising objectives.

Partners

Farm Radio International (FRI), with support from CTA and IDRC, in collaboration with Digital4Good.

Sources

Barza website and FRI website - both accessed on January 31 2012.