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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Global Action Project's Global Voices - Global

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An initiative of Global Action Project (GAP), Global Voices works in diverse areas of the world to produce videos. New York City youth producers are exposed to screenings and workshops that highlight connections between global and local issues; these young people then work as peer educators.
Communication Strategies
Young people attend workshops and film viewings that alert them to key international issues. They then produce videos, which they use to educate their peers. For example, two young Albanian refugees living in New York created a "refugee simulation" workshop in an effort to help US youth understand what it is like to be a refugee. As part of this workshop, the refugees presented the film they had produced on their own war-time experiences to 50 high school students at a US film festival.

Video programmes have been produced in Croatia, Northern Ireland, Ghana, Guatemala, and the Middle East. They include:
  • Peace of Mind: Coexistence Through the Eyes of Palestinian and Israeli Teens (60 mins. Israel, 1999) - 7 young people who attended a "Seeds of Peace Camp" in the US present varied perspectives on current political events, including their views on refugees, security, and sovereignty.
  • Walled City Stories (30 mins. Northern Ireland, 1996) - Produced by Catholic and Protestant teens from Northern Ireland, with two youth of color from New York City, this video examines sectarian violence and cross-community efforts towards peace, and compares the struggles of African Americans in the U.S. to those of Catholics in Northern Ireland.
  • KOLAPS (20 mins. Croatia, 1995) - Produced by Bosnian and Croatian teens living in a refugee camp in Croatia, this video describes the impact of war in a highly personal way
  • El Escape (20 mins. Guatemala, 1995) - Written and directed by Mayan, Ladino and Garifuna youth from Guatemala, this soap-opera-style drama highlights the ways in which teen pressures can lead to alcoholism and pregnancy in a remote and ethnically diverse beach town.
  • Kopeyia Story (11 mins. Ghana, 1991) - Kopeyia, a traditional Ewe village in Ghana, West Africa, is the featured cite of this video, which follows a young Malaria-struck boy as he seeks the help of the local traditional healer, and then the city doctor.
Development Issues
Youth.
Key Points
GAP is a media arts organisation that provides training in video production and new media technologies for youth, both locally and internationally. GAP promotes the inclusion of diverse youth voices on critical local and global issues through public forums in which young people use their media as a springboard for dialogue and action.

Future Global Voices possibilities include Senegal, Nigeria, Brazil, India, and South Africa.
Sources

GAP site