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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Eyes on Zimbabwe

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A project of the Open Society Institute (OSI), Eyes on Zimbabwe is a web-based advocacy campaign designed to raise awareness of the humanitarian and human rights crisis in Zimbabwe. In anticipation of the country's 2008 presidential and parliamentary elections, the project launched a blog and online social networking outreach programme intended to inform and involve people around the world to speak out against rights abuses in the country.

    Communication Strategies

    To raise awareness and inspire action, OSI created the Eyes on Zimbabwe portal for individuals to learn about the crisis in Zimbabwe and to take action in support of the people of Zimbabwe. According to the organisers, the centerpiece of the effort is 'Zimbabwe: The Fight to Free a Country,' which organisers describe as a video documenting the abuses of the government through the words and images of the Zimbabwean people which "combines footage from inside Mugabe's police state with testimony from torture survivors, activists, and lawyers who have witnessed the regime's repression first hand."

     

    To help share information about the situation in Zimbabwe, the website provides:

     

    · the eight-and-a-half minute documentary video;

     

    · a 30-second preview video with embedding code;

     

    · a detailed summary of the crisis in Zimbabwe;

     

    · a timeline of events leading up to the current state of affairs in Zimbabwe; and

     

    · graphics with embedding code linking to the video.

     

    The website also features links to additional information resources, such as news articles and a petition and letter to the United Nations (UN) that people can fill in online. This petition urges the UN Security Council (UNSC) to investigate human rights abuses, monitor the upcoming elections, and convene a UNSC meeting to address the situation in Zimbabwe.

     

    People are invited to spread the word about the campaign, and to include links to the online portal from their own website. The project blog aims to provide up to date information about the situation in the country.

    Development Issues

    Democracy and Governance.

    Sources

    Eyes on Zimbabwe website on December 6 2007 and June 9 2008.