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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Theory of Planned Behavior

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Theory Summary

The Theory of Planned Behavior is designed to help programme implementers design interventions that effectively address a particular behaviour. It is especially intended for those designing interventions that target health-enhancing individual behaviour that may be socially unacceptable, such as condom use, smoking cessation, self check-ups, voluntary testing, and medication adherence.

When using this theory, implementers consider 3 types of beliefs that tend to guide human behaviour: behavioural (sample question: "If I make this decision, what will the outcomes be?), normative (sample question: "What do others expect me to do?) , and control (sample question: "Am I confident in my ability to behave this way?").

According to "Theory of Planned Behavior: An HC3 Research Primer" [PDF]: "When combined, attitudes towards the behavior, subjective norm and the perceived behavioral control result in the formation of an intention. Understanding these beliefs and the intentions they produce can provide clues on how to impact behavior change."



This theory holds (referencing the resource cited above) that individuals are more likely to intend to have healthy behaviours if they: have positive attitudes about the behaviours, believe that subjective norms are favourable towards those behaviours, and believe they are able to perform those behaviours correctly. This theory holds that outside factors and restrictions can prevent an individual from performing a behaviour, even when they have an intention to do so. Therefore, "implementers need to study the beliefs that control the subjective norm, the intention to perform a particular behavior and the actual behavior that is traditionally performed....Formative research and Knowledge, Attitudes and Behavior (KAB) assessments should be performed prior to launching program activity because the results can help implementers focus on issues that present the most barriers to behavior change....The most effective interventions usually target several levels of barriers."

Source

"Theory of Planned Behavior: An HC3 Research Primer" [PDF], Health Communication Capacity Collaborative (HC3), March 25 2014 - accessed April 14 2014.