Children
Child rights action with informed and engaged societies
Children
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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Talking Hands

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Talking Hands is a youth development project aimed at imparting core life skills to teenagers in South Africa. Established in 1997, this educational puppetry programme addresses the need for informed healthcare education in rural and peri-rural communities in the Albany areas of the Eastern Cape, South Africa. The project organisers, Elyse van Houten, Sivuvile Funze, and Wandisile Nyikilanaare, use the puppets to portray how one should behave. They are concerned about problems such as teeth-cleaning, hand washing, clean water, healthy nutrition, co-operation rather than non-co-operation, alcohol consumption, sexuality and HIV/AIDS.
Communication Strategies

The programme uses entertaining yet educational strategies such as puppet theatre as a tool to develop awareness of issues related to alcoholism and drugs, violence, nutrition, dental care, HIV/AIDS, and unemployment. The programme also uses short plays to teach children and teenagers fundamental life skills and to break the barrier of silence surrounding HIV/AIDS. The idea is that art can be used to shift the culture of silence in the country, and to spur people out of a state of apathy. Puppets and theatre are methods for transforming the dry lesson materials of what "you may or may not do" into happy lessons, where children learn through play.

Youth participation is also key to Talking Hands. The organisation trains teenagers to run sustainable and informed organisations dealing with HIV/AIDS, teen pregnancy, rape and abuse, unsafe abortions, and related issues. The project also organises participatory workshops on adolescent reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, and teenage pregnancy.

Development Issues

Youth, Children, Health, Nutrition, HIV/AIDS.

Key Points

The organisers make all the puppets themselves, and also devise the plays. They pack their puppets and equipment into large cardboard boxes, along with the stage scenery, and travel to schools in the province.

According to organisers, "The majority of boys and girls who take part in the programme discover what is meant by the words creativity and artistic development."

Partners

Canon Collins Trust.

Sources

Health Education and Reconstruction Training (HEART) website and IRIN news website on June 20 2005; email from Canon Collins Trust to The Communication Initiative on on January 18 2007; and Canon Collins Trust website on January 31 2007.