The Communication Initiative
Development action with informed and engaged societies
The Communication Initiative

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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Boys' Talk Radio Series - Global

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Boys' Talk is a series of five features from around the world that give young men the chance to talk freely about their attitudes to sex, drugs, alcohol and girls - and growing up alongside the AIDS epidemic. These have been, or will be uploaded to the world wide web (listen through RealAudio or an MP3 player) and they are also available in broadcast quality through InterWorld Radio, the radio news and features service from the Panos Institute, London - see the InterWorld Radio website.
Communication Strategies
In this series of 5 features we hear young men from around the world talking candidly about sex and drugs and growing up to be a man.
Programme 1: Growing up in Africa
Programme 2: Injecting HIV In Ukraine
Programme 3: Macho young men in Brazil
Programme 4: Beer and casual sex in Zambia
Programme 5: Young and Old in Uganda
Development Issues
Gender, HIV/AIDS.
Key Points
Teenage boys and young men aren't often seen as vulnerable or in need of protection. If anything, they have a reputation of being a danger both to themselves and to the society they live in. Statistics back this up - young men are the most likely social group to commit rape and be involved in violence, the most likely group to inject drugs, and the most likely to indulge in risky sexual behaviour. And it's precisely because young men take risks that they are, to a large extent, driving the HIV and AIDS epidemic. Many campaigners now say that in order to turn the AIDS epidemic around, we must understand why young men continue to take risks despite knowing about the dangers of HIV and AIDS. Yet it's not often that young men get the chance to talk about how they feel about their own behaviour.
Sources

Press release for World AIDS Day, 2001.