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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Voces Moviles (VozMob) - Mobile Voices

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On this digital/mobile platform, young and adult Latino immigrant workers in Los Angeles, California, United States (US), can create stories about their lives and communities directly from a cell phone. Vozmob appropriates technology to promote popular communication. This initiative began as a collaboration between the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California (ASC & J, USC), the Institute of Popular Education of Southern California (IDEPSCA), and the Popular Communication team of Day Laborers and Household Workers to design the system, analyse stories, develop shared knowledge, and create training materials [PDF format].

Communication Strategies

The platform is based on the Drupal content management system using a free software that can display video, audio, and text, designed with the idea that those with limited or no access to computers can tell their own stories and gain more participation in the public digital sphere.

 

Through various digital tools, VozMob provides an online publishing location to capture stories directly from mobile phones. It includes a system of multimedia messages (MMS). It includes audio, photo, video, blogs, a news feed and a day labourers newsfeed, and an urgent action posting page.

 

Periodically, a team analyses the multimedia stories, develops and shares knowledge, works on the system design, and creates training tools to promote the content management system.

Development Issues

Youth, Rights, Mobile Populations.

Key Points

From the idea of making digital media accessible for low wage and migrant workers, organisers have incorporated volunteers and staff from IDEPSCA, students and professors from ASC & J, and programmers and media activists to give voice to those who have traditionally been "estadosilenciadas/os" - in a state of silence or silenced by the state. Organisations that joined with support for assessment, development of teaching tools, or technical support include: Macarthur/HASTAC (alliance of humanists, artists, social scientists, scientists and technologists) Digital Media and Learning Competition, Nokia, Social Science Research Council, Annenberg Innovation Lab, Annenberg Program on Online Communities, and Netsquared Mobile Challenge.

Partners

Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism at the University of Southern California (ASC&J), the Institute of Popular Education of Southern California (IDEPSCA), the Popular Communication team of Day Laborers and Household Workers, Los Angeles Community Action Network (LACAN)

Sources

VozMob website, March 26 2015.