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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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Youth Health Organisation (YOHO)

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Youth Health Organisation (YOHO) is a Botswana youth initiative that promotes sexual health among young people. It aims to contribute to the reduction of HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and teenage pregnancy amongst young people aged 14-29 in the country.
Communication Strategies

The organisation works with youth through different types of programmes that include: peer education, media and advocacy, theatre (edutainment), and research/evaluation. YOHO also uses radio and information and communication technologies (ICTs) to educate, empower, and entertain youth.

The Peer Education Programme (PEP) draws on peer-to-peer support techniques to empower young people through talk shows, street bashes, debating sessions, condom education, interpersonal communication, motivational talks, and life skills training. These discussions focus on HIV/AIDS, STI education and prevention, and sexuality. PEP partners with other groups and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to provide training and education on issues related to sexual health and HIV/AIDS.

The Media and Advocacy Programme (MAP) supports youth initiatives through electronic and print media; it also uses focus group discussions, workshops, and conferences to advocate for changes in policy and legislature.


As part of the Theatre and Arts Programme (TAP), YOHO educates and promotes the artistic community, writes edutainment scripts, and performs plays, poetry, and modern and traditional dances. The programme provides an opportunity to work with young people and local music artists to provide inspiration to fight HIV/AIDS and promote positive living.

As part of the Research Evaluation, and Documentary Programme (RED), YOHO conducts research relevant to the organisation's mission and objectives. RED also offers a documentation/resource centre for HIV/AIDS. RED involves evaluation of the efficacy of all YOHO outreach activities, and participation in national studies relevant to the organisational mission and objectives. Other activities include development of training manuals, updating the YOHO library, and compilation of information from the internet.

The Voice of Life is a 30-minute youth radio programme run by YOHO in conjunction with Yarona FM. The show airs on Thursday nights between 1915hrs and 1945hrs. It is hosted by the disc jockey (DJ) on duty, the YOHO crew, and various weekly guests. It looks at issues like abusive relationships.


The Cyber Café is an initiative that is designed to expand young people's access sexual health information related to HIV/AIDS prevention, teenage pregnancy prevention, STI prevention, and condom use. The café is also used to increase youth job skills by implementing computer literacy trainings.

Development Issues

Youth, Sexual Health, HIV/AIDS.

Key Points

YOHO objectives include:

  • educating youth 14-29 years on issues of sexual and reproductive health
  • raising awareness about and promoting new and existing sexual and reproductive health programmes
  • networking and collaborating with different organisations in order to promote sexually healthy behaviour among youth
  • promoting youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health services.
Sources

YOHO website on November 29 2005 and April 12 2007.