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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Seven Things This Year Campaign on Mother and Child Health

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Launched in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, in July 2012 and completed in 2014, "Seven Things This Year" was a United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) campaign that aimed to engage women and mothers in Myanmar to enhance their role and contribution to child health and development by promoting 7 key family health practices for the better health of their children:

  1. Exclusive breastfeeding from birth to 6 months of age and appropriate complementary feeding starting at 6 months;
  2. Good nutrition for pregnant and lactating mothers;
  3. Full and complete immunisation courses for infants;
  4. Ensurance that under-5 children sleep under insecticide-treated bednets;
  5. Hand-washing with soap, especially after using the toilet and before handling food, eating, or feeding children;
  6. Provision of food to sick children and increase in their fluid intake; and
  7. Recognition when children need outside care and, when they do, active seeking of treatment from appropriate service providers.
Communication Strategies

Interpersonal communication (IPC) strategies, including training, combined with community participation and multimedia components, were part of this effort to ensure that mother and child health is placed at the top of the agenda of all Myanmar families. Engaging women and mothers directly in an effort to enhance their role in and contribution to improved child health and development involved providing opportunities for women and mothers to meet with each other and to facilitate positive family health practices aimed at the well-being of their children. Seven Things This Year also assisted in enabling women and mothers to play a supportive role in enhancing community health outcomes.

 

For example, in July 2013, UNICEF collaborated with the Myanmar Maternal and Child Welfare Association (MMCWA) to host a 2-day forum in Sittwe, Rakhine State. The objective of the forum was to empower caregivers - especially women and mothers - in the promotion of family health practices as part of UNICEF's child survival and development activities in Myanmar, which have been underway for over 60 years in this country. The rationale: "The role of care givers - especially women and mothers - is critical to promoting good family health care practices. By engaging primary care givers themselves, this forum is an important step towards improved child health and well-being in Myanmar," said Ms Yosi Echeverry Burckhardt, Chief of the UNICEF Field Office in Sittwe. Over the weeks and months following the forum, MMCWA volunteers promoted discussion around key family health care practices as well as local mother and child health issues. Participants were then asked to reach out to 7 families to raise awareness on the benefits of positive family health care practices. MMCWA planned to roll out the initiative across all rural, urban, and camp communities in Rakhine State, beginning in 100 villages in Sittwe and Myauk U. The plan was to train camp leaders to ensure that internally displaced people (IDP) could share in the benefits of the campaign.

 

Click here to access the Seven Things This Year Facebook page, where the information, education, and communication (IEC) developed as part of this project can be viewed.

Development Issues

Children, Health, Immunisation and Vaccines, Women

Key Points

"Evidence shows that a significant reduction in maternal, new-born and child-related disease and death can be achieved through simple, low-cost, high impact interventions aimed at changing the behavior and practices of individuals and families alike”, said UNICEF's Yosi Echeverry Burckhardt.

Sources

Email from Erica Mattellone to The Communication Initiative on April 13 2015; and UNICEF Myanmar website and Seven Things This Year Facebook page - both accessed on April 13 2015.