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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.
 
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.
 
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AIDS Education - Benin

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This regional project of the European Union among school children started in 1994 as a means of educating all children at the age of about 14, about the realities of AIDS. The communication focus of the project is to reach extended family and peers with AIDS messages and change deeply held denial and scepticism in many rural areas.
Communication Strategies

A 16 page colour brochure was produced with the title AIDS: the killer disease. Thousands have been distributed to schools in Benin. Using simple terms and many pictures, shock value is used as a means of convincing readers of the seriousness and reality of AIDS. Local radio programmes designed in local languages were also produced to reach rural areas with low literacy levels.
Development Issues

Education, HIV/AIDS, children
Key Points

Six weeks after the first distribution, each brochure had reached an average of five people. The brochures are self-explanatory and affordable, making them appropriate for Benin. A strong effort was made to create culturally appropriate materials. This was achieved first by winning the approval of parents before education commenced, avoiding offending local tradition. The second component involved making the message comprehensible to children, for instance using the more widely accepted African language rather than French, the language they are taught in.
Partners



Commission of European Communities (European Union)

Sources

Rex Winsbury, Action: The EC's response to HIV/AIDS in developing countries, 2nd ed. (Brussels: edit, 1994) 25.