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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Positive Lives

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Positive Lives is a visual communications project that captures the lives of HIV-positive people from many countries through images. The project features the work of seventeen internationally acclaimed photographers and covers stories of HIV-positive people. The exhibition has toured worldwide since 1993.
Communication Strategies

"Positive Lives collects photographs and captures the hopes and fears, courage and determination of a marginalised community of people who wish to live normally, without stigma and discrimination."

The complete Positive Lives exhibition features the work of seventeen internationally acclaimed photographers, covering stories of HIV-Positive people from the UK, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Australia.

The project does not use any photograph or story without the permission of those involved and its mission is to raise awareness levels about HIV/AIDS through sharing experiences.

In Bangladesh, ActionAid (with the help of Drik) has held the exhibition at art galleries, cultural centres, universities and medical colleges to reach opinion leaders, policy-makers, academics and the media. It has also targeted audiences in rural communities and high-risk populations.

Development Issues

HIV/AIDS

Key Points

The project aims to raise HIV/AIDS Awareness through imagery.

Partners

Positive Lives, Network Photographers, The Terrence Higgins Trust, Drik, The Elton John AIDS Foundation, The Levi Strauss Foundation, ActionAid, Development Gateway Foundation

Sources

Development Gateway website on June, 11, 2004.