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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Behavioral Economics Approaches and Human Centered Design- Gamifying SRHR Education

4 comments

Hi All,

I wanted to discuss a bit about some of the approaches I used when implementing my pilot research project, Gamification In SRHR, which was aimed at piloting the strategy of "gamification" to influence positive sexual and reproductive health and rights choices among adolescents and youth in Ethiopia. 

I have an Economics background and have often studied various concepts of Behavioral Economics because of how it works to improve underlying assumptions that make neo-classical economic theories work, mainly about the rationality of choice. Behavioral economics approaches can help us explore better how a certain factor can influence individual decision-making and how that applies in a larger context. For my research project in particular, I tried to apply some of the concepts for choosing specific game mechanics and applying that to selected "playable problems." During the design of the basic prototypes I was able to adapt various resources of human centered design and apply it in a challenge where the games were developed with selected groups of the intended primary end-users. 

Seeing the merits of the various strands of SBCC and how they can be applied in a way they can complement each other helps our strategy become more effective and scalable. My abstract for the research has been accepted for the 2018 International Social and Behavior Change Communication summit and I am hoping to share some exicting findings with a wide audience of practitioners and experts in the field.

Let's keep the conversation going!

Thank you very much! 

Yeabsira,

Comments

Submitted by Faith Nassozi … on Tue, 01/30/2018 - 09:22 Permalink

Behavioral Economics is being used to enhance the effects of SBCC and other development programs. In Uganda we utilized behavioral economics to design an intervention to increase redemptions of e-coupons for sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services among hotline clients. 

The study applied behaviorally-informed text messages to increase uptake of SRH services among clients who call into Marie Stopes Uganda’s free hotline and receive an e-coupon referral.

A randomized control trial was utilized to test the research question. Participants were randomly selected into control and treatment groups. The results from this research showcase the opportunities and challenges of integrating this new tool into SBCC approaches.

I will be sharing the results from the research above at the SBCC summit which will offer a great opportunity to share lessons learnt and exchange ideas with other participants.

Submitted by asukhodolska on Tue, 01/30/2018 - 13:00 Permalink

it would be interesting to learn insights and findings from the researches in this area, as we are using gamification for C4D programmes on HIV prevention and promoting testing among young people. will be happy share our experience and see how we can build on further taking into account findings from studies.