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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Indignadas (Outraged Women)

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This art exhibit by María María Acha-Kutscher is one of the projects of the Power section of the online exhibition: Imagining Equality, launched by International Museum of Women. The presentation of  María María's art is described by the following from the gallery site: "By turning photographs from public protests into timeless drawings, artist Maria Maria Acha-Kutscher empowers and memorializes the women at the center of these social struggles."

Communication Strategies

The Indignadas series is part of the artist María María's Women Working for Women project, which recovers the women's historic memory and consists of a visual record of the participation of women in global public protests since 2011. (See "Related Summaries" below.) With more than 70 images, it "records visual evidence of social movements like 15M in Spain, Occupy Wall Street in New York City, United States, and feminist movements like SlutWalk, Alfombra Roja (Peru), FEMEN, and marches for International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women in Mexico."

 

The drawings are based on news photographs and witnesses in these demonstrations and printed on large tarps to be placed in windows and balconies for viewers on city streets. The intervention in Casa Vecina, Mexico City, Mexico, includes two 2x3 metres tarps based on marches in Mexico City: one against femicide and the other from SlutWalk, a global movement born in Canada in 2011 to response to the culture of rape.

 

María María says of her work: "...I turn photographs of the protests, from either the media or the public, into pop art style drawings. The aim of the Indignadas series is to make women's efforts more visible and place women at the center of these social struggles. By transforming photographs into drawings, I give them the supposed 'timelessness' of art. This is another way to elevate these social movements - by using the language of high culture to 'legitimize' these women's actions, preserve the memory of the protest, and keep the movement alive. I want the series to serve as a memory bank that shows future generations that social changes throughout history were made by women and men together.

 

I also print my drawings onto large format tarps to hang from facades and balconies, and exhibit the work in public spaces. Indignadas has been exhibited from the balconies of artist's houses in Madrid, Spain; in the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Santander y Cantabria; and at the University of Alicante, with the support of Madrid City Council." Other exhibitions have taken place at the Art Center, Casa Vecina, in Mexico City, and, most recently, at the Street Art Festival, Rivas Vaciamadrid City Council - Cultural Office, Spain, September 2015.

Development Issues

Gender, Rights, Women

Key Points

The Imagining Equality project asks: "What is the future of Women’s Human Rights?" The exhibit includes a hashtag opportunity for sending messages on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Google Plus, and personal email of statements beginning "Equality is…" It provides a dedicated part of the museum as an online media project exploring the art, voices, and stories of women from around the globe including recently posted images, statements, and "Equality is..." badges posted by readers.

The 2014 Imagining Equality exhibit at the International Museum of Women - part of the Global Fund for Women - an online exhibit space with multilingual exhibits by a community of contributing women. The website also has news and action projects like petitions on women's issues.

Sources

Emails from María María Acha-Kutscher to The Communication Initiative on August 13 2014 and December 10 2015.