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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MTV Grita: Sex Tu Mismo - MTV Shout Out: It's Your Sex Life

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The campaign “Tu Sex Mismo" (known as "It's Your Sex Life” (IYSL) in the English version) is part of MTV Shout Out, a social responsibility initiative designed to motivate young people to express and inform themselves about their sexual health, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and HIV/AIDS, etc., as well as to motivate them to make positive changes in their lives and in their communities. Funding for this project is from the MTV Staying Alive Foundation. [Editor's note: The website dedicated to the campaign is available in English.]

Communication Strategies

Publicity spots were created to support diverse campaigns:

 

  •     The fight against AIDS;
  •     The struggle for human rights;
  •     Information about sexuality and health; and
  •     Environmental protection, among others.

 

MTV seeks to support the humanistic causes of organisations that spur the social and independent consciousness in the community about respect for lifestyles, individual contributions, and responsibilities and the impact of one’s actions on others. Their campaigns are made up of a series of  announcements in which young people speak frankly about their sexual experiences. For example, one announcement titled "Discrimination is Human, Love is Divine," presents a transvestite who is discriminated against by everyone he encounters. At the end, he understands that love is more important than the human instinct to discriminate.

 

 

IYSL also includes longer programmes, forums, public service announcements (PSAs), surveys about sexual behaviour, and off-screen activities, such as the distribution of materials with information about sexual health. A website dedicated to the campaign is available in Spanish  and English and has links to other sources of information and chat rooms dedicated to HIV/AIDS in support of the Staying Alive Campaign.

Development Issues

HIV/AIDS, Youth.

Key Points

Between 1998, when this Staying Alive-funded campaign was launched, and 2005, more than 6,000 youth visited the Spanish version of the MTV Grita website  to respond to a survey about sex. The survey results were used to identify the next steps for the campaign as well as to find the best way to share issues expressed by Latin American young people.

 

In an effort to increase the impact of the campaign, the testimonial videos produced by MTV have been available for transmission free of copyright by any television channel in Latin America interested in supporting the cause. At the same time, MTV Latin America and the brand Levi's established partnerships with sexual health organisations in the region in order to keep their audiences informed with information providing innovative ways to take control of their sexual health.

 

MTV Grita Se(x) Tu Mismo has received several Promax/BDA Latin America awards including the “Best Public Service Announcement.”

Partners

Organización Panamericana de Salud (OPS); Organización de las Naciones Unidas (ONU - UN); the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF); Asociación Mexicana de Planificación Familiar, Mexfam; Best Buddies; Fondo de Población de las Naciones Unidas, UNFPA; the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (ONUSIDA - UNAIDS), among others.

Sources

Organización Panamericana de la Salud – Bolivia website and Marketing Up website.