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. 

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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CTA Rural Radio Packs

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The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA) uses radio packs (short interviews with agricultural experts, extension workers, technical advisers working for non-governmental organisations (NGOs), veterinarians, and personnel from Ministries of Agriculture, as well as researchers about agricultural techniques) as a communication tool to provide information to African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) rural communities. The Rural Radio Resource Pack Programme began in 1991 and produces sets of 5 "packs" per year. There are over 50 packs available to date at the centre.

Aimed at strengthening the links between extension workers and farmers, promoting knowledge sharing between farmers, and addressing the problem of illiteracy, the packs are designed to encourage the use of rural radio to disseminate scientific and technical information.

Each pack deals with a specific topic – ranging from crop storage to water usage, small ruminants, or soil fertility. The choice of topics is based on suggestions made by ACP partners. Each pack comprises the material necessary for a radio programme on a specific topic: interviews on tapes or CDs, a transcript of the text, suggestions for introducing each interview, technical information on the topic, and advice on how to use the pack.

A list of some of the Radio Pack topics follows:

  • Drying agricultural products
  • Marketing for small-scale producers
  • Renewable energy in agriculture
  • Micro-finance
  • Integrated pest management
  • Neglected crops: proving the potential
  • Medicinal plants
  • Rainwater harvesting
  • Beekeeping
  • Animal health
  • Poultry rearing
  • Goat rearing
  • Avian flu
  • Cotton
  • High value crops
  • Women and agriculture
  • Young people and agriculture
  • Communication for food & nutrition security
  • Agriculture and health
  • Land rights
  • Water rights
  • HIV/AIDS and nutrition
  • Food and nutrition security in the Caribbean
  • Climate change
  • Soil fertility
  • Organic farming
  • Marketing strategies for small-scale farmers
  • Small-scale farming/liberalised economy
  • Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for natural resource management
  • Indigenous fruits
  • Agro-biotechnology & food security
  • Weed control
  • Seeds
  • Sustainable forest management
  • Agro forestry
  • Credit
Source

Email from Journalists for Human Rights to The Communication Initiative on August 8 2011.