Child rights action with informed and engaged societies

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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Quasi-experimental evaluation of a national primary school HIV intervention in Kenya

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Maticka-Tyndale, E., J. Wildish, et al. (2007). "Quasi-experimental evaluation of a national primary school HIV intervention in Kenya." Evaluation and Program Planning 30(2): 172-186.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the impact of a primary-school HIV education initiative on the knowledge, self-efficacy and sexual and condom use activities of upper primary-school pupils in Kenya.

METHODS: A quasi-experimental mixed qualitative-quantitative pre- and 18-month post-design using 40 intervention and 40 matched control schools demonstrated significant program impact on targeted objectives of (1) adequate program delivery and, for standard 6 and 7 pupils (ages 11-16 years), (2) increased HIV-related knowledge; (3) increased communication with parents and teachers about HIV and sexuality; (4) increased assistance to fellow pupils to avoid sexual activity; (5) increased self-efficacy related to abstinence and condom use; (6) decreased exposure to HIV through delayed first intercourse, decreased sexual activity and increased condom.

FINDINGS: Results support the conclusions that the existing infrastructure is adequate for national roll-out of the program; that the program has its most beneficial effect on sexually inexperienced youth and should therefore be implemented with the youngest age groups possible; and that gains are gender specific, with boys reporting increased condom use while girls are more likely to decrease or delay sexual activity. Based on these results, the program began national roll-out to all primary schools in 2005. By June 2006, the program was operating in 11 000 of the country's nearly 19 000 schools.