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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Our Priorities - Our Future - Yemen

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In 2011, Resonate! Yemen launched the Our Priorities - Our Future project to inform youth about the 10-points reform plan developed by a team of reformers within the Yemeni government. The project was designed to encourage youth to debate its benefits, share their reservations over it with its designers, and  enrich it with their own ideas of how can it be executed on the ground.

Communication Strategies

The 10-points plan "promised to restore the government's credibility and to prevent any further deterioration of Yemen's economy." Resonate! Yemen created a 3-step framework with corresponding digital portals to stimulate debate, questions, and comment through the following modules:

 

The 'Learn' module provided access to detailed information, documentation, and resources related to the topic of the projects implemented. It was designed to enable the participants to increase their knowledge and raise their awareness about the topic and prepare them for the next two modules.

 

The Engage module enabled and facilitated direct interactions between youth and key decision makers in the Yemeni Government, private sector, or any other sector relevant to the projects implemented. The initiative planed to make use of creative techniques to engage the youth with the issue being addressed, such as social media, video documentary competitions, and other techniques. The participants were also  able to give their opinion regarding the different points of the plan by filling an online survey.

 

Under the Contribute module, Resonate! encouraged youth participants to contribute towards the issue being addressed - either by providing ideas on how the different stakeholders should address the issue or by taking action by themselves towards addressing the issue. For example, participants were able to post ideas for projects that could be implemented under each of the 10 points of the plan. They were also able to share interesting initiatives around the world that could be adopted in Yemen to implement each point.

 

Development Issues

Democracy and Governance, Youth, Rights

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

Canada Fund for Local Initiatives

Sources

Resonate! Yemen website, December 9 2012.