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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Determinants of Ebola Preparedness in a Representative Sample of the Populations in Vulnerable Areas in Guinea-Bissau and The Gambia: Abstract

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Author

Affiliation

Eawag [Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology]

Date
Summary

"The objective of this study was to find the relevant socio-psychological factors of behavior intentions related to the prevention of an Ebola outbreak and hand washing with soap in a representative sample of the populations in vulnerable areas in Guinea-Bissau and The Gambia."

The focus of this Eawag (Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology) presentation for the International SBCC Summit 2016, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, February 8-10, is on Ebola prevention in Guinea-Bissau and The Gambia.

From the abstract:
"The outbreak of the Ebola virus disease (EVD) in West Africa (Guinea Conakry, Sierra Leone, Liberia) is the largest and most complex Ebola outbreak since the Ebola virus was first discovered. There have been over 11,000 reported deaths, and are still new infections in these three countries. The vulnerability for an Ebola outbreak in Guinea-Bissau and The Gambia is given due to several reasons: their geographical location, the cross-border market activity, inadequate water and sanitation systems, poor hygiene practices in some communities and risky burial ceremonies, which are extremely conducive to conditions of contamination. The objective of this study was to find the relevant socio-psychological factors of behavior intentions related to the prevention of an Ebola outbreak and hand washing with soap in a representative sample of the populations in vulnerable areas in Guinea-Bissau and The Gambia.

Key highlights:

The results showed that hand washing with soap and water in Guinea-Bissau is mainly related to the knowledge about the Ebola virus disease, the affect liking, the descriptive norm and the commitment to wash hands with soap and water. In The Gambia, the perceived vulnerability, the response belief, the cost perception and three social norms (injunctive norm, descriptive norm and personal norm) were found to be predictors for hand washing with soap and water. In both study countries, similar factors led to a higher intention for calling the Ebola hotline, if there would be a suspected Ebola case in the household: the response belief, the injunctive and the descriptive norm, the commitment and the communication frequency."

Source

International SBCC Summit 2016 website, February 20 2016.