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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Youth and Peace Contest - Azerbaijan

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In August and September 2003, the youth NGO Reliable Future, with the support of United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) Azerbaijan, organised a youth contest focussed on peace. The competition involved the creation and submission of one-minute films and newspaper articles on the part of young Azerbaijanians between the ages of 8 and 22. Launched in honour of United Nations (UN) International Peace Day, the project aimed to promote peace education among youth, increase awareness on the part of society to peace-building initiatives, and contribute to a culture of peace.
Communication Strategies
This project relied on a competition to encourage young people - and their broader communities - to participate in peace-building activities and to draw awareness to the need for peace. Young people were asked to submit entries for the contest; the best 10 films and 20 articles were honoured on September 20 2003 (UN International Peace Day).

To support the contest, the media was used as a broader strategy for peace education. Television, radio, newspapers, films, posters, and other media activities were designed to encourage young people to enter the competition. In addition, one-day seminars for children and young people were organised in cooperation with the Zercalo Newspaper and Arts Gymnasium and the Azerbaijan Cinematographers Union. Professional members of these organisations provided practical tools and skills to participants related to their participation in the contest. At the end of seminar, some participants prepared scripts and began filming; others wrote newspaper articles. Reliable Future organised these seminars in 20 regions of country in order to promote the participation of youth from all areas.

Expected project outputs include a book featuring the winning articles, a disk with the 10 selected films, and a book on 'Youth and Peace'.
Development Issues
Peace, Children, Youth.
Key Points
Reliable Future was founded by high school students in 1998 and officially registered in 1999 by the Ministry of Justice of Azerbaijan Republic. There are more than 150 members of Reliable Future working "to unite progressive and active part of Azerbaijan youth and direct their forces to build up democratic, civil, open and healthy society."
Partners

Reliable Future, with funding from UNIFEM Azerbaijan. Seminar collaborators included the Zercalo Newspaper and Arts Gymnasium and the Azerbaijan Cinematographers Union.

Sources

Letter sent to the Young People's Media Network on August 4 2003 (click here for the archives); and UNIFEM Azerbaijan site; and UNICEF's MAGIC site.