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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Social marketing improved the use of multivitamin and mineral supplements among resource-poor women in Bolivia.

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Warnick, E., Dearden, K. A., Slater, S., Butrón, B., Lanata, C. F., & Huffman, S. L. (2004).
Social marketing improved the use of multivitamin and mineral supplements among resource-poor women in Bolivia. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 36(6), 290-297.

OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesis that social marketing improves women's awareness and consumption of multivitamin and mineral supplements.

DESIGN: Formative research and baseline and final surveys using a multistaged stratified cluster sample.

SETTING: Department of Santa Cruz, Bolivia.

PARTICIPANTS: Women 15 to 49 years old (n=1709 at baseline and n=1735 at final survey).

INTERVENTION: Social marketing campaign using radio and television spots.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Awareness and use of multivitamins, including VitalDía, the brand promoted as part of this social marketing campaign.

ANALYSIS: Cross-tabulations to assess changes over time in awareness and use of multivitamins. Logistic regression analyses to identify determinants of multivitamin use.

RESULTS: The campaign increased women's awareness and use of multiple supplements, including VitalDía. Awareness of multiple supplements nearly doubled among women with 6 to 8 years of schooling, tripled among women with 4 to 5 years of education, and more than quadrupled among women with less than 4 years of schooling. After 9 months of social marketing, 11% of women had taken VitalDía one or more times, 7% had taken it at least once in the last 3 months, and 4% had used it one or more times in the last month. Improvements in the use of VitalDía were evident for women of all socioeconomic and educational levels, with the greatest increases occurring in the least advantaged groups. Additionally, women who had a positive perception of the benefits of multivitamins were 1.7 times (95% confidence interval 1.2-2.3; P <.01) more likely than women who did not have a positive perception to ever use VitalDía, once the effects of social class were adjusted.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Social marketing of multiple supplements reached resource-poor women and can be used to bridge gaps in access, improve awareness of supplementation as an option, and increase the likelihood that women will try supplements.