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

Time to read
less than
1 minute
Print
a- a+
Published 22 years ago
Last updated 1 year ago
Read so far

Speak Your Mind - South, South East, and East Asia

0 comments
In 2002, MTV Networks Asia teamed up with UNICEF and the Levi's® Brand to launch the Speak Your Mind Campaign, which was designed to encourage youth from the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, India, Korea, Taiwan, China, and Japan to communicate about issues that are important to them, such as HIV/AIDS, education, and their rights. To culminate the campaign, MTV channels in Asia delivered 24-hour youth-related programming in celebration of Youth Day, August 1.
Communication Strategies
On the Speak Your Mind site, schedules were posted detailing the 24-hour youth-related programming. As part of the campaign, MTV hosted 11 interactive 'Speak Your Mind' websites, where young people were invited to take part in forums and other online activities. Further, 12 Asian youth were selected as ambassadors of the campaign; they flew to New York to present the "Speak Your Mind" Asian Youth Charter to the United Nations Secretary General Mr. Kofi Annan at the UN Headquarters.

Youth Day activities were organised on a country-to-country basis. For example, the Malaysia 'Speak Your Mind' youth representatives distributed limited editions of Asian Youth Day badges to areas around the flagship Original Levi Stores.
Development Issues
Youth.
Partners

MTV Networks Asia, UNICEF, Levi's®.

Sources

ONEWORLD Radio AIDS Network Newsletter, No. 11, May 2003 (forwarded to The Communication Initiative by the Europe Association mondiale des radio diffuseurs communautaires (AMARC) list server on June 10 2003 (click here for a summary of the posting); and Speak Your Mind site.