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.
 
Co-founder Victoria Martin is pleased to see this work continue under Wits' leadership. Victoria knows that co-founder Warren Feek (1953–2024) would have felt deep pride in The CI Global's Africa-led direction.
 
We honour the team and partners who sustained The CI for decades. Meanwhile, La Iniciativa de Comunicación (CILA) continues independently at cila.comminitcila.com and is linked with The CI Global site.
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The Drum Beat 46 - Gender

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46
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Programmes

1. Enhancing Participation in Civics (EPIC) - Egypt - strengthens the capacities of non-governmental organizations to contribute more effectively to poverty alleviation, ensure gender equity, food governance and sustainable development. CARE Egypt has initiated projects with 400 community-based organisations. 

2. Social Movement to Ban Female Genital Cutting [FGC] - Senegal - Mobilised men, who traveled from village to village encouraging communities to sign the Oath of Malicounda pledge that committed those villages to abolish FGC. Process encouraged dialogue and discussion and the introduction of the women's perspective and stories. More than 35 villages have banned FGC. [Thanks to Premila Bartlett - PVO/NGO Networks for Health PBartlett@dc.savechildren.org ] 

3. Dukh Sukh Apney (Our Sorrows, Our Happiness) - Pakistan - a radio drama with a gender equity perspective on reproductive health issues for men and women, empowerment and education for girls and women. Episodes will air in Urdu in March-April. A PCI, UNFPA, Ministry of Population Welfare and Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation partnership. David Andrews dandrews@population.org 

4. Flame - a network of African sisters online committed to strengthening the capacity of women through the use of ICTs to lobby, advocate and participate in the Beijing +5 process. Serves as an electronic forum to share and exchange ideas, strategies, information and issues of concern. A specific focus on unequal gender access to the new technologies. flamme@sn.apc.org 

5. Centro de Mujeres Comunicadoras Mayas (Center for Mayan Women Communicators) - Guatemala - center for women to unite and communicate, for self-definition and clarity of purpose, and to develop skills in communications technology to enable better representation. Activities are determined by the indigenous women who participate. cmcm@rds.org.gt 

Advocacy 

6. Center for Health and Gender Equity [CHANGE] - a research and advocacy organisation that seeks to integrate concern for gender equity and social justice into international health policy and practice. Initiatives supported include: International Research Network on Violence Against Women; Multi-country study on domestic violence and health; and Men's roles in reproductive health and rights. Jodi Jacobsen Jjacobson@genderhealth.org 

Capacity Building 

7. Strengthening Electronic Communication Capacities of Women's Organisations in Africa - designed by ABANTU. Participatory training methodologies are used to strengthen Connectivity, Content and Capacity, to improve electronic communications between African women's organisations. 4 themes: Gender and Poverty; Gender and Conflict; Gender and Governance; Gender and Information Technology. Wanjiru Kihoro people@abantu.org 

Campaigns 

8. AIDS - Men Make A Difference - the 2000 World AIDS Campaign - "Engaging men as partners in fighting AIDS is the surest way to change the course of the epidemic. The World AIDS Campaign...will work with both women and men, NGOs, governments, the United Nations system and the media to bring about a new, and much-needed, focus on men" 

9. White Ribbon [WRC] - a large effort by men working to end men's violence against women. Wearing a white ribbon is a personal pledge never to commit, condone nor remain silent about violence against women. Men and boys wear a ribbon for one or two weeks, starting November 25, the International Day for the Eradication of Violence Against Women. Whiterib@idirect.com 

Resources 

10. Involving Men in Reproductive Health - CD ROM with 497 documents from around the world about men's participation in reproductive health. Categories include: Gender, Couples, Men & Reproductive Health, IEC & Men and Institutional Influences. No cost to people in developing countries. >From JHU/CCP and USAID. Rick Glasby popline@jhuccp.org 

11. Voices for Change - Rural Women and Communication - gender-sensitive communication processes giving rural women a voice to advocate changes in policies, attitudes and social behaviour or customs that negatively affect them. This book includes: 'Communication in a Changing World"; 'Invisible Partners'; Giving Voice to Rural Women'; and, "Looking Towards the Future'. Examples from practice - eg women and beekeeping in the Solwezi District of Zambia. By Silvia Balit mc8918@mclink.it in collaboration with the Communication for Development Group at FAO.

12. Preventing Violence against Women - designed by a group of South African Preventing Violence Against Women organisations. Aims to provide women who are in crisis with practical information on how to get help; and, be a space for activists, researchers and policy-makers working to prevent violence against women to network and share information and resources. Includes analysis ["Understanding Violence against Women] and information on campaigns, laws and internet sites. Web site #1 AND Web site #2

13. Gender Abuse Hinders Development - in Population Reports on "Ending Violence Against Women". Includes a series of action boxes - eg "Applying Communication Strategies to Address Violence"; "how to promote non-Violent Relationships"; and, 'A Framework for Understanding partner Violence". PopRepts@jhuccp.org 

14. "Feedback" on programme communication and social mobilisation - magasine of the Gender, Partnerships and Participation section of UNICEF New York. Issues contain a range of information on gender and participation issues. Recent issue included details on Niger ratifying CEDAW, Women in Conflict Zones, Gender focused UNIFEM project on HIV/AIDS and Wise Guys: the Male Responsibility initiative. Waithira Gikonyo wgikonyo@unicef.org 

Analysis 

15. "A better deal for women? Why mixing gender equity and anti-poverty strategies can confuse the issues" - development agencies boast the policies etc .. [which].. should provide cause for celebration. However...] by Cecile Jackson - University of East Anglia cecile.jackson@uea.ac.uk [From ID21] 

16. "The Structure of Social Disparities in Education: Gender and Wealth" (PDF version) - Uses household datasets to investigate the ways in which gender and wealth interact in generating inequalities - by Filmer, D. Produced by:Gendernet, World Bank (1999). 

17. "Gender and Social Security Reform in Africa" - critical review of existing research on gender and social security in Africa and identifies key issues and outstanding questions for future research - by Kasente, D. Produced by:International Development Research Centre (IDRC) (1998]. 

Electronic Forum 

18. Gender-Related Electronic Forums is an annotated, frequently-updated, award-winning listing of publicly-accessible electronic forums related to women or to women-focused gender issues. 

Gatherings 

19. Gender, Human Rights, Sexuality and HIV - A 2-day satellite conference on women's issues at the XIII international AIDS conference in Durban, South Africa will be held July 9-14, 2000. Anne-christine d'Adesky HIVPLUSACD@aol.com 

20. Media and Arts in Coalition against Violence to Women and Girls - was a session at a UNICEF South Asia organised conference - "the Media and Arts play a pivotal role in addressing gender stereotypes and gender violence in society. They have the potential for supporting activist work to undermine gender equality and stop gender violence as well as to perpetuate and sensationalise the situation. However, as their importance and reach can not be denied, strategies need to be developed to work with the media..." Experiences and ideas for action are contributed by Kunda Dixit, Shanti Diariam, Khalid Ahmed and Viji Srinivisan. UNICEF ROSA rosa@unicef.org 

Web Site 

21. Men and Gender Equality - established by a group of male UNDP staff following a workshop in 1999. Includes information on the seminar series [ eg Working towards Gender Equality - where are the Men? ] ; commentaries on mainstreaming gender equality; electronic discussion forum; bibliography and links to related organisations. James Lang james.lang@undp.org 

Vacancies 

22. Further details and expanded list of Vacancies is here.

23. Recent:

23. Quicklist - check out additional information on these and other initiatives here.

Join a Communication Chat Forum - theme communities are: Strategy; News; Entertainment; Evaluation and Research; Web-Developers; for Consultants or email wfeek@comminit.com for joining instructions.

Thanks to Silvia Luciani sluciani@unicef.org at UNICEF for much support and guidance with this issue which was edited by Warren Feek wfeek@comminit.com. 
***

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