Social Change
Social change action with informed and engaged societies
Social Change
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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Section 1: Catalyst: Communication for Social Change: An Integrated Model for Measuring the Process and Its Outcomes

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Summary

Section One: An Integrated Model of Communication for Social Change


Catalyst

The model describes a dynamic, iterative process that starts with a "catalyst/stimulus" that can be external or internal to the community. This catalyst leads to a dialogue within the community that when effective, leads to collective action and the resolution of a common problem. The model identifies six potential catalysts:

  1. An internal stimulus may be discovery of high levels of arsenic in the village wells, the onset of an epidemic such as AIDS, noticeable increases in maternal mortality or, perhaps, the suggestions of a local leader that stimulates members of the community to talk to one another about a health problem.
  2. A change agent, such as the ones used in most NGO community interventions, may visit a community to initiate a discussion of "felt needs" or of a specific health problem in order to induce the community to take some type of collective action.
  3. An innovation, such as a new oral rehydration solution, a new vaccine or the availability of a new type of chlorine water disinfectant, may stimulate a community to talk about its adoption.
  4. Policies that prompt the community to act, such as a new law that requires all children to complete primary education.
  5. Availability of technology, such as the injectable method of contraception or mechanical digging equipment, may stimulate a community to talk about family planning or to reconsider the construction of new wells.
  6. Mass media, including messages designed to promote individual behavior or collective action, may stimulate members of a community to adopt the behavior or to emulate other communities that have achieved some common goal by working together.


The catalyst in the model represents the particular trigger that initiates the community dialogue about a specific issue of concern or interest to the community. This catalyst is a missing piece in most of the literature about development communication. Much of the existing literature implies that the community spontaneously initiates dialogue and action or that an external change agent visits the community to mobilise the community. Experience has shown that communities rarely initiate a dialogue about a problem spontaneously, and that some do take action on their own without being visited by external change agents.





Some authors like Juan Díaz Bordenave (1998) initiate the description of a community process with the "identification of the problem." One could ask how a problem is identified in contexts where "a problem" is seen in the community as something "normal"? For example, it may be normal that children under the age of 1 often die or that mothers die during pregnancy. What the model implies is that some type of catalyst is usually necessary to stimulate a community to consider and discuss a problem. Once this discussion is initiated it may unfold in several directions: from simply creating a greater sense of dissatisfaction, to inciting a community conflict or to cooperative action that helps solve the problem.


The Community Dialogue and Action box of the model describes a sequential process or series of steps that can take place within the community, some of them simultaneously, and which lead to the solution to a common problem. The literature and previous experience indicate that if these steps are successfully completed, community action is more likely to be successful. In this sense, it is a descriptive model, one that could be used to describe and explain why previous community projects were successful or unsuccessful. In another sense, it is a prescriptive model, one that can be used by local leaders and external change agents to increase the likelihood that community action will be successful.


Each small box in the model represents a step that may or may not happen in a specific context or case. At some points, when a particular step is not successfully completed the group may "loop back" to an earlier point in the process and reconsider earlier decisions.