Development action with informed and engaged societies

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:

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Interactive Games Project - Bangkok, Thailand

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In March 2003, the Program for Appropriate Technologies in Health (PATH) launched a mass media project that uses a web-based interactive computer game to promote adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH) among young people in Bangkok, Thailand. The game is intended to entertain 13- to 15-year-olds while it educates them.
Communication Strategies
A game design expert from Microsoft Games visited Bangkok to provide training workshops and brainstorming sessions. The government is supporting the effort by following through on its commitment to provide computers to all schools around the country, including rural sites, and to provide Internet hookups.

Placing the game on the Web allows use of the technology known as "cookies", which enable the project to anonymously keep an ongoing profile of each player and to record his or her accuracy in terms of answering questions in the game. This strategy will provide feedback to inform future adjustments to the game.
Development Issues
Youth, Reproductive Health.
Key Points
Organisers claim that, in Bangkok, more than 250,000 youth frequent Internet cafes per week to play computer games.

A pretest in late 2002 showed a positive reaction to the game.
Partners

M-WEB, university fellows, Microsoft Games, the Thai government.

Sources

Letters sent from Teresa Guillien to The Communication Initiative on December 9, 11, and 20, 2002.

Comments

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Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 11/30/1999 - 00:00 Permalink

Very helpful as I think of strategies for AIDS education