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

Time to read
1 minute
Print
a- a+
Published 13 years ago
Last updated 1 year ago
Read so far

Make Your Voice Heard - Yemen

0 comments

In October of 2011, Resonate! Yemen and House of Light, in cooperation with Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and Canada Fund for Local Initiatives, conducted a 4-day youth training on strengthening participatory democracy in Yemen. The overall goal of the project was to enable Yemeni youth to continue playing an active and positive role in shaping the political landscape of Yemen. The objectives of the project were:

a) Strengthening the Yemeni youth leaders’ understanding of the field of participatory democracy and equipping them with the skill sets they need to launch advocacy, lobbying, and grassroots campaigns.

b) Working with party leaders in Yemen to build a roadmap that more genuinely integrates youth in the political process in Yemen.

Communication Strategies

To achieve these objectives, Resonate! organised a 4-day workshop in Sana’a, from October 29 to November 1 2011, with 50 youth participants selected from the cities of Aden, Hadhramout, Hudeidah, Sana’a, and Taiz.

 

The first day of the workshop was dedicated to exploring the basics of politics and democracy. On the second day, participants learned how to plan and execute advocacy campaigns. The third day focused on online tools of advocacy and gave the participants an opportunity to form teams and design their own advocacy campaign on combating Qat (a traditional stimulant used as a "recreational narcotic") in Yemen. The fourth and final day was dedicated to a round table discussion with political party representatives to discuss the topic of youth political inclusion in the post-revolution period, followed by small group discussions to formalise recommendations for strengthening youth political inclusion.

Development Issues

Youth, Rights, Democracy abnd Governance

Key Points

Resonate! Yemen works on advancing the cause of participative democracy in Yemen through bringing the voices and ideas of young Yemenis (aged 18 to 35) to Yemen's public policy discourse and through supporting youth action on issues of local and national significance.

Partners

Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and Canada Fund for Local Initiatives

Sources

Resonate! Yemen website, December 9 2012.