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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Effectiveness of integrated health awareness program for women at reproductive age (15-49) through home-visits in Jordan

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Summary

Background: Womens health has hit the spotlight in Jordan focusing on family planning and breast cancer awareness. Jointly, the Jordanian Breast Cancer Program and the Jordan Communication, Advocacy and Policy Activity established an innovative integrated SBCC program reaching out to women in the cities of Sweileh and Salt that is intended to increase awareness and uptake rate of modern family planning and breast cancer early detection methods. Method: Educational and practical training was done for the community health workers followed by 1153 home visits for married women in the reproductive age who were assessed on their knowledge and attitude towards FP and BC where women who were not using modern family planning methods were redirected to health centres. The retention of knowledge and changes in practices was evaluated after two months by selecting a random sample of 260 MWRA. Results: 1153 home-visits targeted ladies aged from 15 to 49 years old, where 43.4% of the women acted upon their referral. Following the home-visits, ladies were more confident to self asses their knowledge about the family planning, as 92/200 scored themselves (5) compared to 33/251 prior to the home visit. While 87/92 and 88/92 were well-informed that self-breast examination and clinical breast examination respectively is done by the age of 20. Conclusion: The adoption of family planning and breast cancer screening and early detection methods provided notions of women empowerment and autonomy over her health decisions that initiated sustainable development broadened to empowering them over all decisions.

Background/Objectives:

Womens health has hit the spotlight in Jordan focusing on family planning and breast cancer awareness. Jointly, the Jordanian Breast Cancer Program and the Jordan Communication, Advocacy and Policy Activity established an innovative integrated social behaviour change communication program reaching out to women in the cities of Sweileh and Salt that is intended to increase awareness and uptake rate of modern family planning and breast cancer early detection methods.

Description of Intervention and/or Methods/Design:

Training on social behaviour change, gender equality & equity, communication concepts and the methods for delivering FP and BC messages was done for the community health workers (CHW) where then they conducted 1146 home visits for married women in the reproductive age and questionnaires were given to assess their knowledge and attitude towards FP and BC where women that were not using modern family planning methods were redirected to health centers in order to utilize the services. The retention of knowledge and the changes in practices was evaluated after two months by selecting a random sample of 260 MWRA.

Results/Lessons Learned:

A total of 1146 home-visits were done covering women aged from 15 to 49 years old, where 43.4% of the referred women acted upon their referral. Women were more confident to self asses their knowledge about the family planning topic, as 92 out of 200 of the post-test sample scored themselves(5) compared to 33 out of 251 prior to the home visit. While 87 out of 92 from the post-test sample stated that a lady should start self-breast examination by the age of 20 and the majority (88 out of 92) were well-informed that clinical breast examination is important when you hit the age of 20 and also figures regarding the mammography knowledge were outstanding, when compared to pre-test results.

Discussion/Implications for the Field:

The adoption of family planning methods and breast cancer screening and early detection has become an integral component in women's norms. Both provided notions of women empowerment and autonomy over her health decisions.

Abstract submitted by:

Rasha Fakheraldeen - Jordan Breast Cancer Program
Batool AlJammal - Jordan Breast Cancer Program

Source

Approved abstract for the postponed 2020 SBCC Summit in Marrakech, Morocco. Provided by the International Steering Committee for the Summit. Image credit:  Jordan Breast Cancer Program.