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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Internews Peace-Building Films

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Internews, an international media development organisation, produced a series of 12 documentaries designed as part of a peace-building project to help populations of Rwanda and Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) - as well as ex-combatants, their families, and soldiers still in eastern Congolese forests - better understand each other and therefore encourage peaceful co-existence. Since November 2008, the documentaries have been screened in public places and in the general media in the two countries.
Communication Strategies

Internews Europe worked with local journalists to produce the 12 documentaries, which were filmed in both countries and tell stories of everyday life involving music, sport, and village events. The films seek to familiarise communities on both sides of the conflict-affected border with each other and to show how they can live together in peace. The productions were also broadcast on local television and radio stations in both countries and were broadcast daily on public buses and a ferryboat in the DRC.

The following 4 films are being shown in screenings in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, and on the "Hillywood Country Tour" (nicknamed for Rwanda's hilly countryside):

  • Les Enfants de Dieu (Children of God): The film examines the various activities of family planning organisations in internally displaced persons camps. It describes family planning options and how women can access these methods, and discusses the new, more open attitude of the Catholic Church regarding family planning.
  • Special Koffi: This movie features Congolese music star Koffi Olomide. Olomide once performed at a stadium in Kigali, Rwanda, where he explained how natural it is for music and musicians to cross borders.
  • A Letter to My Daughter: This film was produced in French and Kinyarwanda with English subtitles. A young Congolese journalist is shocked when she interviews victims of domestic violence in Rwanda and Congo.
  • 24h in Mutubo Camp: This film shows the Hutus ex-combatants in a transit camp in Rwanda. Click here to watch this film.
Development Issues

Conflict.

Key Points

According to the organisers, since November 2008, public screenings of the documentaries by Internews' office in Rwanda have led to nearly 20,000 people returning from all parts of the country and Eastern Congo.

A Letter to My Daughter was nominated for an Award in the international documentary category of the International Film Festival South Africa, which took place in November 2009, and was selected for the Radar Hamburg Film Festival that same month in Hamburg, Germany.

Internews is an international media development organisation whose mission is to empower local media worldwide to give people the news and information they need, the ability to connect, and the means to make their voices heard.

Partners

Funding provided by the United Kingdom (UK) Department for International Development (DFID).

Sources

Internews website on September 23 2009.

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