Development action with informed and engaged societies

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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Summary Booklet of Best Practices

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SummaryText
From the introduction..."AIDS is now the leading killer in sub-Saharan Africa. Whereas 200,000 people died as a result of conflict or war in Africa in 1998, AIDS killed 2.2 million. The progression of the disease has outpaced all projections. In 1991, WHO projected that in 1999 there would be 9 million infected individuals and nearly 5 million cumulative deaths in Africa. The reality in 2000 is two to three times higher, with 34.3 million infected individuals and 18.8 cumulative deaths."

Sections on:
  • Introduction: Best Practices in Africa
  • Children and young people
  • Community mobilisation
  • Health system personnel and training
  • Local responses in HIV/AIDS
  • Mother-to-child transmission
  • Palliative care
  • Religion
  • School-based interventions and services
  • Sex workers and clients
  • Sexually transmitted diseases
  • United Nations Theme Groups on HIV/AIDS
  • World of work: employers and workers
  • Annex 1: Making a Proposal for the Summary Booklet
    Annex 2: Theme Groups and Country Programme Advisers in sub-Saharan Africa
Publication Date