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Media

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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Ezindu - Nigeria

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Ezindu ('Happy Family'), was a weekly Igbo radio drama, series broadcast in 1988, that featured reproductive health and child survival themes. Part of a larger campaign which included a workshop for leaders and print materials, Ezindu promoted family planning and women's health using talks, discussions, features, music, audience participation, and drama. Ezindu also included realistic situations incorporating family planning as part of daily life and encouraged the general public to attend family planning clinics. The series was pretested for cultural appropriateness and accuracy and targeted both rural and urban listeners.
Communication Strategies

There were 26 30-minute radio drama episodes, broadcast 44 times (including repeats). One of the most popular storylines centered on a couple who have more children than they can care for. The story poignantly portrays scenarios in a household with too many children. There is inadequate food and insufficient money to pay for school fees and health care. The story is further developed by the intervention of a neighbor who informs the couple about family planning and how it could help them. Stories with vivid characters and realistic situations that the listening audience can identify with influenced the audience to seek further information on family planning.

Development Issues

Reproductive Health, Child Survival, Early Child Development.

Partners

Imo Ministry of Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication Programs (CCP), and Emerharole (evaluation).