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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Youth AIDS Network - Latin America and the Caribbean

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In an effort to build networks for youth HIV/AIDS prevention, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has collaborated with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), UNICEF, and YouthNet to create an email network of adolescent health specialists. PAHO's Child and Adolescent Health and HIV/AIDS/Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) units are leading the effort, which focuses on youth AIDS prevention in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Communication Strategies
This initiative uses information and communication technologies (ICTs) to enable adolescent health practitioners to share strategies, exchange information, and keep up-to-date in the field of HIV/AIDS prevention for youth. Members receive the Youth HIV Action newsletter and Breaking the Silence advocacy sheet, among other publications and notices regarding the topic.

Specifically, the Youth HIV Action newsletter is a quarterly publication featuring news, events, and other information regarding the prevention of HIV/AIDS in Latin American and Caribbean youth. For example, the 2-page April 2004 edition focuses on such issues as the 1st Caribbean Summit for Youth on HIV, the youth health and media survey Medios y salud (Media and Health), and reproductive health concerns among young Argentine women. These issues are archived on the PAHO website, and may be downloaded in PDF format in Spanish and English (click here to download the April 2004 issue as a PDF document). Breaking the Silence is a quarterly advocacy sheet that offers tools for preventing HIV/AIDS among adolescents and youth in Latin America and the Caribbean. It is a joint publication of the Child and Adolescent Health and HIV/AIDS/STI Units. Issues are available for download on the PAHO website; the April 2004 issue [PDF] focuses on the WHO/UNAIDS 3X5 Initiative.
Development Issues
HIV/AIDS, Youth.
Key Points
As of this writing, PAHO, SIDA, and NORAD have a combined general email and conventional mail network of more than 5600 adolescent health specialists, including many in the English-speaking Caribbean, who regularly receive information on events, workshops, training opportunities, and publications relating to adolescent and youth health and development. The dedicated network of specialists in HIV/AIDS and youth - the Youth AIDS network - numbers more than 800 as of this writing; it began with 48 people signed up during the 2002 Barcelona AIDS Conference. If you would like to be a part of this network, please send your e-mail address to Sylvia Singleton (see below).
Partners

PAHO, SIDA, NORAD, UNICEF, YouthNet.

Sources

Letter sent from Sylvia Singleton to The Communication Initiative on March 15 2004.