Soul Beat Africa
African development action with informed and engaged societies
Soul Beat Africa
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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SSDI-Communication Project

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SSDI-Communication is a social and behaviour change communication (SBCC) project that promotes normative and behaviour change in several health areas. The project addresses six key priorities of the Malawi Essential Health Package (EHP) that include malaria, maternal and child health, family planning, nutrition, HIV/AIDS, and water, sanitation and hygiene. The USAID-funded project is implemented by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication Programs (JHU.CCP) in partnership with Save the Children in Malawi (SC) and several local organisations. The project began on September 16, 2011 and will run through September 15, 2016. According to JHU CCP, an important feature of this project is that it is one among three allied projects that collectively form USAID’s Support for Service Delivery Integrated (SSDI) program. The other two projects focus on service delivery (SSDI-Services), and policy and systems strengthening (SSDI-Systems).
Communication Strategies

The overall project goal is that by 2015, families are better able to advocate for their own health, are practicing positive health behaviours, including timely use of Essential Health Package (EHP) services, and are engaging with a responsive health care system. The project has identified the following key strategic objectives toward these goals:

  • Strengthen national and targeted district level SBCC planning and coordination on EHP priorities applied across health and resulting synergies;
  • Develop and produce evidence-based SBCC packages under a multi-level media campaign to support effective, integrated SBCC implementation through mass media and facility and community level;
  • Build capacity of key national institutional partners and targeted district SSD-E partners for effective SBCC strategic planning and delivery through on-going technical assistance and monitoring on use of developed packaged interventions;
  • Identify best practices for SBCC implementation through formative research, testing new innovative approaches and materials and operational research, where appropriate.

The project's focal districts include: Mangochi, Machinga, Phalombe, Nsanje, Chikhwawa, Kasungu, Dowa, Salima, Lilongwe (urban and rural), Chitipa, and Karonga.

Development Issues

 

  Reproductive Health, Maternal Health, HIV/AIDS, Malaria, Child Health, Nutrition, Hygiene and Sanitation.

Key Points

According to JHU-CCP, Malawi is struggling to meet the health needs of its estimated 13 million people. It has one of the highest maternal mortality ratios in the world, approximately 12% of 15-49 year old Malawians are HIV positive and malaria is endemic in 95% of the country. Yet there are also positive signs that Malawians are taking action to improve their health and those communities are responding to health challenges collectively.

Partners

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication Programs (JHU.CCP), Save the Children, and United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Sources

JHU-CCP website and JHU-CCP website on August 7 2012.