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

Time to read
1 minute
Print
a- a+
Published 24 years ago
Last updated 1 year ago
Read so far

Youth Empowerment Foundation Hotline - Nigeria

2 comments
The Nigeria HIV/AIDS telephone hotline is a collaboration between JHUCCP and a local NGO called YEF (Youth Empowerment Foundation). This NGO is based in Lagos, which is the largest urban center in the country with the largest number of telephones - business, domestic, public, and cellular. The primary target population of this hotline is youth between the ages of 15 and 24 years.
Communication Strategies
The telephone hotline is a means of reaching youth in Lagos through a medium to which they have relatively good access. The initiative made youth aware of the existence of this hotline through multiple media including TV and radio spots on the stations and at the times that garner the largest young audience. Print adverts appear in popular newspapers and magazines, and posters and cards are distributed to young people in high schools, universities and youth centers across Lagos. The hotline is also featured on billboards located on major roadways as well as on posters that are placed in markets and bus terminals where out-of-school youth work or congregate.
Development Issues
Youth, HIV/AIDS
Key Points
There are between three and four million young people between 10 and 24 years old in Lagos. Studies have shown that young people in this age category have the highest risk of being infected with HIV. In fact, their prevalence rate in Nigeria is almost double that of the rest of the population. Furthermore, young people are influenced to a greater degree than are others by a culture of seeking confidential and anonymous help and support through the telephone or the internet.

So far, approximately 57% of the calls to the hotline have come from the target audience (15-24 year olds). Most of the callers seek general information on HIV/AIDS, including modes of transmission, care and support for those with HIV, myths and misconceptions about HIV and Mother-To-Child-Transmission (MTCT), as well as places to procure anti-retrovirals. A vast majority of the callers (75%) are male, which is typical of telephone hotlines. Programme directors intend to make specific efforts to reach out to women in the city, encouraging them to utilise the hotline.
Partners

Six Youth Serving Organisations provide referrals for callers. Volunteer counselors for the hotline are associated with the following YSOs: SWAAN, Action Youth Incorporated, Nigeria Youth AIDS Programs, and Child Association of Nigeria. Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) provides pre- and post-test counseling, as well as Voluntary Counseling and Training (VCT).

Sources

Letter sent from Diala Chamberlain to the Communication Initiative on February 21, 2002.

Comments

User Image
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 10/01/2005 - 09:42 Permalink

I would suggest that due to the fact that the Youth Empowerment Foundation have come a long way it is high time we come down to the computerized world that is having a website.
John Gozzle
Volunteer with YEF