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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MY World

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"The new development agenda must result from a truly open and inclusive process that engages people from all parts of the world and all sections of society."

Carried out from late 2012 through early 2014, this youth-centred initiative revolves around a global opinion survey being carried out by the United Nations (UN) and partners which - through online web, mobile, and offline paper survey methods - allows people across the world to tell the UN and, in particular, the Secretary General's High Level Panel, the most important issues they would like the post-2015 agenda to address. The goal is to reach out to citizens all over the world in order to listen to their voices, priorities, and views and incorporate them in a new global development agenda once the focus on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has concluded in 2015.

Communication Strategies

MY World uses new technologies, as well as traditional communication tools, to ask individuals which 6 of 16 possible issues they think would make the most difference to their lives. The 16 issues (see Key Points, below) have been identified from priorities expressed by economically poor people in existing research and polling exercises, as well as from ongoing technical and political discussions about possible future goals. They cover the existing MDGs, plus issues of sustainability, security, governance, and transparency.

 

Starting in December 2012, the survey is available at MY World in the 6 UN official languages (English, Spanish, French, Arabic, Chinese, and Russian). Citizens will also be able to participate in this survey through mobile technologies such as text messaging/short messaging service (SMS) and IVR (toll-free phone numbers) beginning in January 2013. The survey will also be available offline in paper form - distributed through a network of grassroots organisations, faith-based communities, youth groups, private sector bodies, and non-governmental organisation (NGO) partners around the world. The support of these organisations is considered to be vital in reaching out directly into communities and drawing the digitally disconnected, illiterate, and economically poorest communities into the global debate. Participants will be asked their gender, age, and country to allow for disaggregation of data and to present decision makers with an accurate global picture of what citizens think.

 

The online portal at World We Want enables people in all parts of the world to join the post-2015 process by sharing ideas and joining the debate. MY World is fully integrated into this global effort and is a single piece capturing citizens' voices to enrich this global conversation. Survey results will be shared through MY World and social media and presented to world leaders in 2013. Specifically, data from mobile phones, website, and offline surveys will be continuously consolidated and available on the MY World website. Results will be submitted to the High Level Panel before their meetings in Monrovia, Jakarta, and New York before they present their final report to the Secretary General to advise him on their vision of the post-2015 development agenda. MY World will continue gathering people's voices, and results will be shared with the Secretary General and global leaders as they prepare the next development agenda in the run-up to 2015.

 

Key to this initiative is giving youth-led organisations and networks opportunities to influence and actively participate. The national consultations and thematic consultations, including inclusive online mobilisation, that are being organised around the survey focus on youth participation - with an emphasis on the voices of the most marginalised adolescents. These various sessions will culminate in the World Youth Conference: Strengthening Youth Engagement in Developing the Post-2015 Agenda in May 2014.

 

The below video was recorded during the 2012 International Youth Leadership Academy (IYLA) training in Istanbul, Turkey. Participants came together and shared their visions for what their world would like post-2015.

 

For more information, please consult the below PowerPoint presentation, delivered by Youth Lead Ravi Karkara at the Regional United Nations Development Group (UNDG) Capacity Building Workshop on Programming for Young People in Istanbul, Turkey, December 3-7 2012.

Development Issues

Youth

Key Points

Organisers note that young people, individually or collectively, are making voluntary contributions every day in order to achieve the MDGs. They consider it vital to continue to harness their enthusiasm, commitment, energy, and partnerships in development and achievement of the post-2015 goals. The 16 survey options are:

  1. "Better job opportunities
  2. Support for people who can't work
  3. A good education
  4. Better healthcare
  5. Affordable and nutritious food
  6. Phone and internet access
  7. Better transport and roads
  8. Access to clean water and sanitation
  9. Reliable energy at home
  10. Action taken on climate change
  11. Protecting forests, rivers and oceans
  12. Equality between men and women
  13. Protection against crime and violence
  14. Political freedom
  15. An honest and responsive government
  16. Freedom from discrimination and persecution"
Partners

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Millennium Campaign, the Overseas Development Institute, and the Web Foundation. The Department of Public Information of the United Nations and the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) Programme also play a leadership role.

Sources

Email from Ravi Karkara to The Communication Initiative on December 6 2012. Image credit: World We Want