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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Impact Data - Truth Anti-Smoking Campaign - Florida, USA

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Date
Practices
According to the second Florida Youth Tobacco Survey (FYTS) conducted in February 1999, over the course of the calendar year between 1998 and 1999, the number of middle and high school teens defined as "current smokers" declined by 19.4 percent and 8.0 percent respectively.

Twenty-nine thousand Florida teens made the decision to not smoke during that time period, ten thousand of whom would likely have continued smoking and died early as a result. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated that this decrease represented "the largest annual reported decline observed in this nation since 1980."
Attitudes
The FAME survey also tested changes in attitude among the campaign's target audience and found that the percentage of teens agreeing with certain negative statements about smoking had risen by 15 percent since baseline data was gathered the previous April.

Follow-up surveys show that non-smoking teens who refrained from smoking through the duration of the campaign were 2.3 times more likely to say they had been influenced by the campaign's message that tobacco companies were trying to manipulate them. The campaign attracted more than 10,000 middle and high school teens to join and participate in the pilot programme's youth advocacy organisation SWAT.

Access
In September of 1998, the Florida Anti-Tobacco Media Evaluation (FAME) was conducted through a comprehensive telephone survey testing the confirmed awareness of the campaign and its paid media advertisements among Florida teens ages 12-17. The initial goal for the programme was to achieve a confirmed level of awareness of 85 percent by the time the test was conducted. Results of the survey showed that the "Truth" programme, only five months into its marketing campaign, had surpassed its goal and achieved a brand awareness of 92 percent.
Source
Social Marketing Institute website.