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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Simunye Media Dialogue Project - South Africa

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This media and peace-building project was born out of the conflict between Africa National Congress (ANC) and Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) supporters in 1990 which led to 2,000 deaths, and raged on for 4 years.
Communication Strategies

The video dialogue was a form of media intervention during which members of both sides, led by former warring commanders, Wiseman Ndebele (IFP) and Thabo Kwaza (ANC), under the direction of the Media Peace Centre (MPC) produced a video analyzing the conflict. The video was later shown to the leadership of both sides of the community and discussion centered around to what extent, and how, this type of intervention brings about peaceful change.
Development Issues

Political development, peace.
Key Points

The basic assumption underlying the video dialogue is that dialogue (communication between the parties) will promote reconciliation. What this type of video achieves is that former adversaries write a collected history. The video-making process structured the conflict, and started building relationships between the parties; it became a forum to resolve differences. Video dialogues cannot be ‘one time occurrences' but must be part of an ongoing process of consultation and intervention, otherwise they can easily become part of an exploitative process.
Partners



Media Peace Centre

Sources

Document provided by ICHR/RP to The Communication Initiative

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

this page sucks ass