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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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Tsangaya School Strategy

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To address an upsurge of polio cases in Nigeria in August 2012, the United Nations Children's (UNICEF), with the support of the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC), engaged in a collaboration with Koranic school teachers ("Tsangaya teachers"). At the start of the school year, the Tsangaya School Strategy is being piloted in 10 high-risk local government areas (LGAs) of Jigawa and Zamfara States in an effort to reduce the number of missed children during polio campaigns and help build community ownership of immunisation by reducing ongoing misconceptions and resistance to the oral polio vaccine (OPV).

Communication Strategies

The Tsangaya School Strategy involves the full engagement of religious schools, institutions, and leaders, and teachers, whom organisers say are critical community leaders and opinion-makers. The concept is that, for polio eradication to succeed, it is important to engage and ensure the full participation of all sectors of society and in particular the communities themselves.

 

Advocacy meetings and sensitisation workshops are being set up with high-level policymakers, as well as traditional and religious leaders, including the Association of Proprietors of Koranic Schools, in each of the participating LGAs. Tsangaya teachers will also be engaged during immunisation campaigns as part of the social mobilisation teams within their respective settlements for the purpose of convincing those households which may refuse immunisation.

 

This project is also engaging preachers and Imams, especially during Friday mosque sessions, to ensure that the community is fully aware of the importance of immunisation during every OPV campaign and the risks to children who are not immunised. Rallies with school children and other awareness activities will be arranged at the community level in each of the participating local governments.

Development Issues

Immunisation and Vaccines.

Key Points

Jigawa and Zamfara are among the highest-risk states in Nigeria, where there is ongoing circulation of wild poliovirus (WPV). In 2012, Nigeria experienced an upsurge in the number of polio cases, with - as of August 2012 - a total of 69 cases of WPV in 11 states, compared to 31 in 6 states in 2011. Community resistance continues to be a key challenge in these states, where the proportion of refusals accounted for 23% of missed children in the July 2012 Immunisation Plus Days.

Partners

UNICEF and religious leaders/teachers, with CDC support.

Sources

"NEWSNOTE: Partnering with Religious Schools to Fight against Polio in Nigeria", sent from Fatratra Lalaina Andriamasinoro to The Communication Initiative on August 30 2012.