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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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From "gangster" to grocer

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Author: Hoda Hersi, November 24 2015 - "I used to be a gangster", explains Abaas, a first year student at a university in Mogadishu and now the proud owner of a grocery store.

Abaas used to live a life of crime on the streets of Mogadishu. To escape the streets he thought only of how he could accumulate enough money to migrate. If successful, his perilous route would have taken him through the vast, dry deserts of Sudan and Libya, and seen him smuggled across dangerous seas to a new life in Europe.

While listening to Googjoog FM five months ago, he tuned in to BBC Media Action’s Maalmo Dhaama Maanta (A Better Life than Today) - a weekly radio drama addressing issues important to young Somalis - such as relationships, employment and migration.

Dilemma episode

The project is the first interactive drama for young Somalis, regularly inviting listeners to decide the fate of characters by popular vote. In one 'dilemma episode', Ali, a young unemployed man, is torn between his wife who wants him to migrate to find a job and his mother who wants him to stay for his education. The overwhelming majority of listeners voted for Ali to attend university at home and build a life for his family in his own country.

In parallel with the fictional Ali in Maalmo Dhaama Maanta, Abaas also decided to stay in Somalia and attend university after relating to the topics of discussion he'd listened to. The programme "made me give up my old life and start a new one" he says. "It helped me [in my decision] to go back to school… and now I'm in my third semester."

"My development programme"

Abaas is keen to add how the programme made him realise how much he loved his country, and how it inspired him to become a student and business man in Mogadishu. He says, "I call the programme my development programme", and now encourages other young people to listen to the drama and learn from it too.

Many young Somalis are making the same life-changing decisions about their futures as Abaas. Abdirahman Ali Mohamoud, the actor who plays Ali’s role in the drama, also had a change of heart about migration while working on the drama. "I felt that after a while I was going to try to find a way out of this country. But having been part of the programme, and listening to the audiences’ responses… they tell me I am a part of something good that has impacted the community. I got a lot back from being part of this."

There’s nothing better than getting feedback like this. Our interactive drama is helping young people understand that they are not alone in the issues they’re facing - and that together, they can become active actors in their own development, and that of their communities.

The Maalmo Dhaama Maanta drama show airs on BBC Somali Service every Friday - as well as local stations in Somaliland, Puntland and Somalia South Central. It’s part of the Hiigsiga Nolosha (Aspirations for Life) project funded by SSF (Somalia Stability Fund).

 
Click here to access this BBC Media Action blog and related links on their work in Somalia.
Image credit/caption: BBC Media Action "Abdirahman, the actor who plays ‘Ali’, recording for the radio drama Maalmo Dhama Maanta (A Better Life than Today)."

Contact:
BBC Media Action
BBC Media Centre, MC3A, 201 Wood Lane
London
W12 7TQ
United Kingdom (UK)
Phone: 44 (0) 20 8008 0001
Fax: 44 (0) 20 8008 5970
Media.action@bbc.co.uk