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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Jol-Danga [Water and Earth]

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Jol-Danga is an initiative revolving around a televised puppet show that sheds light on critical climate change issues in an entertaining way to educate and engage not only community members at large but also the next generations of Bangladeshi: children. It is part of WaterAid's efforts to build worldwide awareness on climate change, risk, environmental conservation, energy efficiency, preservation of natural resources (i.e., air, fresh water, etc.), protection of biodiversity, CO2 emission reduction, and resilience towards adaptation and sustainable development in the coastal areas of Bangladesh.

Communication Strategies

A year of creative brainstorming, survey, and research (started in June 2012) to trace a popular, traditional, and engaging medium of communication - puppetry - resulted in establishing 6 colourful "climate change ambassador characters" for children to follow and tweet with. Jol-Danga follows the puppets as their lives are affected by climate change, water, sanitation, and hygiene issues. Each episode explores these topics with singing and dancing to help children understand the issues in a fun way. Specifically, "[t]he magical world of 'Jol-Danga' is home to: Happi - a heroic crocodile whose home has been affected by climate change, Pappi - a small brown fox who is the last of his species, Ghangor and Ghang - a happy frog couple, Meku - a funny goat, and Pori - a schoolgirl who teaches the others about climate issues. They play, sing, dance and learn together, having a lot of fun along the way!" The first two episodes of Jol-Danga - broadcast on 2 satellite television channels during 2 holy Eid festivals in August and October 2013 - disclose the hardship of an imaginary coastal community in adapting to climate change. The story incorporates the effects of deforestation, climate change, adaptation, rain water harvesting, disaster risk reduction, and responsibilities of a good citizen.

 

This character set (copyright by WaterAid) and storyboard are being utilised to spark awareness of climate change issues in other forms of communications (e.g. information, education, and communication (IEC) materials, behaviour change communication (BCC), comics, animation, posters, banners, festoons, billboards, etc.). A mobile unit of WaterAid's climate change team is working in coastal areas of Bangladesh to showcase this edutainment scheme through awareness building campaigns in schools and parent/child gatherings, etc.

 

For more information and updates on Jol-Danga's activities, visit the Jol-Danga Facebook page.

Development Issues

Environment, Children

Key Points

In 2014, Jol-Danga was selected for screening at the Prix Jeunesse International Festival, which celebrates excellence in children's television across the world. Having drawn 1.2 million viewers in Bangladesh (as of February 2014), the programme will be circulated to children's TV experts worldwide as part of the festival's catalogue.

 

WaterAid global headquarters is planning to replicate the creative awareness campaigns of Jol-Danga for African country programmes by translating and dubbing the episodes in different African languages.

Sources

"WaterAid Bangladesh at Prix Jeunesse International 2014", February 20 2014; and Mediawave website and Jol-Danga Facebook page - both accessed on February 25 2014.