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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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Harnessing the senga institution of adolescent sex education for the control of HIV and STDs in rural Uganda

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Muyinda, H., J. Nakuya, et al. (2003). "Harnessing the senga institution of adolescent sex education for the control of HIV and STDs in rural Uganda." AIDS Care - Psychological and Socio-Medical Aspects of AIDS/HIV 15(2): 159-167.

OBJECTIVE: Senga (father's sister) is a traditional channel of communication about sexual behaviour for adolescent females in rural Uganda. We evaluated a modification of this approach as an intervention for HIV and STDs in a pilot study in two intervention villages and one control village over 12 months.

METHODS: Eleven adult women and three adolescent girls were chosen and trained to become sengas. Adolescent girls were encouraged to visit the sengas for sexual health information. Adult sengas saw an average of 21 clients; Adolescent sengas saw five. Adolescent girls made 45% of visits. The expected reasons for attending the sengas accounted for 51% of visits.

RESULTS: Knowledge about HIV/AIDS, sexual communication skills, consistent condom use and family planning service use increased in the intervention group of girls over the study period and compared to control girls. Symptomatic STDs decreased in the intervention group. This intervention was readily accepted by the community; Members of all ages and both sexes attended for a wider variety of reasons than anticipated. Adolescent girls in the intervention group showed improved knowledge, attitudes and practices related to HIV and STDs. This promising intervention warrants further testing in larger studies and other settings.