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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Beyond Awareness Campaign

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The Beyond Awareness Campaign is a project of the HIV/AIDS and STD Directorate of the South African Department of Health. The campaign ran from November 1998 through to October 2000 and was conducted by a consortium of 4 organisations- AIDS Media Research Project, DramAidE, Lindsay Smithers FCB and Wireless Additive.
Communication Strategies



The challenge posed by the framework of the Beyond Awareness Campaign was to develop a campaign that did more than simply raise awareness. Although the Campaign did include awareness raising activities, its focus was to provide and promote access to communications tools and resources that could be used in support of prevention, care and support activities and initiatives at the local level.Main focus was on the red ribbon icon. By actively promoting the red ribbon in all communications activities, the Beyond Awareness Campaign helped to make the AIDS epidemic more visible, and to promote consistent "branding" of all AIDS communication activities. As comprehension of this symbol grew, the Campaign expanded promotion to include distribution (on request) of utility items such as high quality red ribbon pins, red ribbon caps and t-shirts. The red ribbon logo was available electronically to all organisations producing HIV/AIDS communications materials, thus allowing the same logo to appear as part of provincial, regional and local communications campaigns.


They held an AIDS Helpline and AIDS write-in service and provided key messages through advertising. Communication of key messages through advertising provided a consistent and sustained backdrop to activities at provincial, regional and local level. Areas of focus included: the red ribbon, the tollfree AIDS helpline and condoms. And they provided free educational materials through the AIDS Action Office.

Development Issues



HIV/AIDS.

Key Points



The Beyond Awareness Campaign emerged out of a long history of research, consultation and analysis of international trends. It had its roots in the National AIDS Convention of South Africa (NACOSA) plan that was developed in the early 1990's, and was shaped by needs of HIV/AIDS organisations through dialogue and consultation of the National HIV/AIDS Communications Forum. All activities were monitored and evaluated.


It had a multilingual approach. South Africa is a country of diverse languages. Communication around HIV/AIDS is more likely to be comprehended and accepted in a person's home language. The Beyond Awareness Campaign emphasised a multilingual approach in key activities including advertising in radio and print media, information materials, and the tollfree AIDS helpline.

Sources

Beyond Awareness Campaign website.