Development action with informed and engaged societies

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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Good Men Give Value to Women

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Implemented by Paz y Desarrollo (PYD) Cambodia, a Spanish non-governmental organisation (NGO), in partnership with the Ministry of Women's Affairs (MoWA), Good Men Give Value to Women - the Good Men campaign - sought to contribute to the reduction of violence against women (VAW) in Cambodia by transforming gender norms, to promote understanding of different ways of "being a man", and to encourage changes in attitudes and behaviour towards gender equality. The Good Men campaign used a primary prevention approach seeking to prevent violence before it occurs by addressing the underlying root causes of VAW. Grounded in the belief that VAW cannot be eliminated without the involvement of men, the nationwide initiative aimed to reach more than 3,500,000 men aged 15 to 49.

Communication Strategies

The Good Men campaign focused on raising awareness and changing attitudes and behaviour by using peer-to-peer and role modelling approaches (friend to friend, father to children, sibling to sibling) to convey the following messages: Men respect girls and women; men reject any form of violence against girls and women; men contribute to children's education; men share ideas and respect opinions of girls and women; men share household chores; and men talk to resolve problems. Implementation included:

  • Mass Media: The Good Men campaign created 4 different educational spots based on people's ages (see one example, below) that disclose answers in response to the question in the teasers. The spots were aired on 4 big TV networks in Cambodia including National Television of Cambodia (TVK), Bayon TV, Cable Television Network (CTN), and My TV. Featuring similar messaging were 4 radio announcements and teasers, 7 posters, and branded materials. See the Good Men campaign website for details about and access to all these items.
  • Social Mobilisation: There was a series of interventions in the fields of art, sport, and social media amongst others, carried out through NGOs, using existing networks and programmes. Many of these activities involved created entertainment as well as providing learning opportunities at community levels, especially in areas where access to mass media is low. For example, the theatre piece, developed by the NGO Phare Ponleu Selpak (PPS), involved a team of 18 persons: 10 artists, 2 musicians, 4 technicians, and 2 drivers. The play started with songs to better capture the attention of the audience. The scenario was based on the themes of the campaign, and the play was very visual. Each performance, at the districts level, usually drew approximately 500 people. There was also a visual arts exhibiliton on gender featuring over 30 paintings drawn by over 20 young artists that was exhibited in 10 provinces.
  • Interpersonal Communication: For example, a comic book [PDF] was designed to foster "one to one" communication between men and women.
  • Advocacy/Institutional Mobilisation: A series of briefings with policymakers was held at national and sub-national levels.
  • A Phone App/Quiz: The Good Men Quiz, a mobile app game designed to influence men's attitudes towards gender equality. It challenges and measures how good a man the player is, as far as gender equality and GBV are concerned. Operated in Khmer running as phone application available for Android, along with an interactive 3D graphic animation, the quiz has been developed as a youth-minded tool that is using information and communication technology (ICT) to generate awareness of the Good Men campaign and to reinforce the commitment of the men to the core values of the campaign. In the Good Men Quiz, the player has 60 seconds to answer each multiple-choice question. At the end of the game, the total score determines the level of a good man the player is. During the initial stage of the app design process, a survey with users was carried out to understand what it means to be a man and what types of content should be included in the app. And, during the design process, the app was tested a few times to ensure that it is corresponding to users' needs. The game was intended to educate men in a way that they could relate to their everyday lives. For instance, a good man shares the responsibility of doing housework. The other challenge related to how to market the app to target audience. To overcome the challenge, Good Men Campaign team worked hand-in-hand with their partners to promote Good Men Quiz to men aged from 15 to 49 in both urban and rural areas. Furthermore, the team worked with mobile phone stores to install this app to their customers.
Development Issues

Violence against Women, Gender

Partners

Coordinated by Paz y Desarrollo (PYD), who acted as the secretariat of the following groups:

  • Steering Committee (decision-making body): Chaired by the Ministry of Women's Affairs (MoWA). Its members were the Spanish Agency of International Development Cooperation (AECID), Partners For Prevention (P4P), the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), and Gender and Development For Cambodia (GADC).
  • Technical Working Group (advisory body): Chaired by the Ministry of Women's Affairs (MoWA). Its Members were Asociación Solidaria Andaluza de Desarrollo (ASAD), Care International, Cambodia Women Crisis Centre (CWCC), Enfants & Développement (E&D), FHI, Gender and Development for Cambodia (GADC), Open Institute, Partners for Prevention (P4P), Phare Ponleu Selpak (PPS), People Health Development (PHD), Psicólogos Sin Fronteras (PSF-ONGD), Paññasastra University of Cambodia (PUC), Social Services Cambodia (SCC), and Women's Media Centre (WMC).
  • Three Sub-technical Working Groups: (1) Youth, (2) Adults and (3) Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E).
Sources