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.
 
Co-founder Victoria Martin is pleased to see this work continue under Wits' leadership. Victoria knows that co-founder Warren Feek (1953–2024) would have felt deep pride in The CI Global's Africa-led direction.
 
We honour the team and partners who sustained The CI for decades. Meanwhile, La Iniciativa de Comunicación (CILA) continues independently at lainiciativadecomunicacion.com and is linked with The CI Global site.
Time to read
less than
1 minute
Print
a- a+
Published 24 years ago
Last updated 1 year ago
Read so far

Nutrition - Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger

0 comments
A project to improve children's nutritional health in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger for children younger than five using indigenous modes of communication such as folk media. Indigenous communication resources were integrated with non-traditional communication media to create a new type of message.
Communication Strategies

An interactive drama which gauged audiences responses to nutritional information. Plays and storytelling in the indigenous methods communicated effectively the issues that were specified in focus groups to be of the utmost importance in child nutrition. Health worker cards, posters, handouts, and radio spots were used as supplementary materials.

Development Issues

Child health, nutrition, general health concerns, indigenous methods of communication

Key Points

Qualitative research measured the programme's success and residents were found to have general knowledge of health practices and changed their nutrition-related behaviors.

Partners

United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Sources

A Three-Country Malnutrition-Reduced Project - Toward a Symmetrical and an Integrated Framework of Norms for Nutrition Communication in Sub-Saharan Africa. C.B. Pratt, I. Siva-Barbeau, & C.A. Pratt. Journal of Health Communication. Abstracts, Volume 2, Number 1 January - March 1997.