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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Centre for Youth of Hope (CEYOHO)

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Centre for Youth of Hope (CEYOHO) is a non-governmental that targets young people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS in Botswana. It provides care and support and educates youth on how to strengthen their ability to live positively with HIV/AIDS.
Communication Strategies
The organisation’s signature activity is the annual production of ‘Miss Stigma Free’ competition which brings together HIV-positive women as contestants in a pageant in which one of them will be chosen as a ‘positive living’ role model and become an activist advocating for prevention, de-stigmatisation and anti-retroviral (ARV) adherence.

The organisation’s objectives include to:
  • strengthen current ARV programme and ensure sustainability in roll-out
  • expand the capacity of HIV testing to cover gaps (e.g men, youth)
  • develop "post-test well-being packages" for HIV-positive and negative patients with focus on prevention and referral to care.
  • empower HIV positive people to become key players in prevention and support.
Development Issues
HIV/AIDS, Youth.
Key Points
The organisation aims to support Botswana in the development and implementation of a national comprehensive HIV/AIDS strategy that will prevent new HIV/AIDS infections and reduce the morbidity and mortality of HIV/AIDS.

The organisation does this in collaboration with government, civil society, development partners and the private sector by facilitating the development and implementation of strategic initiatives and improving human, technical and financial resources.
Partners

African Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Partnerships (ACHAP)

Sources

African Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Partnerships (ACHAP) website on April 22 2005.

Comments

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Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 03/03/2008 - 07:26 Permalink

HIE EVERYONE. IM A LADY AGED 25. IM ACTIVE ON MATTERS AFFECTING THE YOUTH. I AM A MEMBER OF CAREER, HIV / AIDS, GUIDANCE AND COUNSELING AT PALAPYE TECHNICAL COLLEGE. I WOULD LIKE TO BE A MEMBER OF CEYOHO. WHAT DO I NEED TO BE A MEMBER.

SETHUNYA ETHUSANG
rethusang@yahoo.com