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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.
 
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 cila.comminitcila.com and is linked with The CI Global site.
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Ajing Conga, Bila Pa Ladwar Radio Programme

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Ajing Conga, Bila Pa Ladwar (I Will Strengthen My Knees – The Song of a Hunter), is a 72-part radio drama and live theatre production produced in 2010 by Lamele Theatre Artists with the support of the United States Agency for international Development (USAID), designed to provide people, especially returnees, in post-conflict Uganda with information on education, health, culture, security, and governance. The programme tells the stories of three families that have returned to their homes from internally displaced people’s camps and they are grappling with the efforts of rebuilding their lives.
Communication Strategies

In early 2009, the USAID's Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) completed a survey in northern Uganda and found that more than 95% respondents had heard about the Government of Uganda's Peace, Recovery, and Development Plan (PRDP), a post-conflict programme for re-integration and stability in the country following the 23-year conflict with the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). However, the survey found that very few northern Ugandans knew who was responsible for implementing the plan, how much money was involved, or which districts were being targeted.

As a result, OTI supported The Lamele Theatre Artists, a local non-governmental organisation (NGO) that works in the dramatic arts, to produce 72 dramatic radio broadcasts grounded in the tenets of peace, recovery, and development. Over a period of four months, three stations aired the 72 episodes of the radio drama three times a week in the local Luo language throughout Uganda's Acholi sub-region. The broadcasts explored themes of reconciliation, family values, culture, security, and agriculture. The show explored the complexities of restarting lives and sustaining relationships in a post-conflict setting.

Following broadcast, the most powerful episodes were rewritten for the stage, and the plays have been performed in communities where internally displaced people are returning. These productions are designed to give residents and returnees an opportunity not only to learn, but also to interact and provide feedback on many issues.

Development Issues

Conflict and Peacebuilding

Key Points

According to the project organisers, after gaining its footing after a quarter century of conflict, communities in northern Uganda are working hard to restore local infrastructure and citizens are going about the business of rebuilding homes and lives. However the political reality is that the political leadership wanted to expedite the return process while also providing returnees with crucial information so they could make informed decisions about their lives. Radio is not only the most reliable source of information for returning communities but also serves as the medium of choice to access the information people are seeking.

Partners

Lamele Theatre Artists and USAID’s Office of Transition Initiatives.

Sources

USAID website and USAID blog on January 24, 2011.