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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The Museum of the Person: A Global Network for Life Stories

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"The memories of myself helped me to grasp the plots I was involved with." Paulo Freire

The Museum of the Person is a global network that links individuals and groups through authoring and sharing their life stories. Museum projects are located in Brazil, Portugal, the United States, and Canada, with online archives available for each national museum. According to the project organiser, the goal of collecting personal memories through life stories is to ensure a more just and democratised world.

Communication Strategies

The Museum of the Person network is based on using the methodology of collected life stories with authorship by the subjects/participants. The network encourages interested individuals, groups, organisations, corporations, and governmental sectors to consider developing an autonomous "Museum" to expand the global network.

 

Sites linked to each other and to a global internet portal include: the Museu da Pessoa (no longer online) based in São Paulo, Brasil, the Musée de la Personne, the Center for Digital Storytelling, the Museum of the Person in the United States, and the International Day of Sharing Life Stories.

For example, the Museu da Pessoa has developed a method for collecting and systematising personal testimonies and stories and has carried out numerous projects in the areas of business, memory, education, culture, and community development.

 

Dissemination of stories includes the following:

  • "Publications: books, biographies, daily planners and almanacs
  • Videos: documentaries and institutional videos
  • Internet: virtual environments for projects, museums, and virtual reference centers
  • Exhibitions
  • Memory centers
  • CD-ROMS: data banks for reference
  • Organization of collections: historical and museum collections for companies and institutions
  • Workshops, seminars and training programs
  • Booths for recording personal stories"

 

The Museu da Pessoa uses the São Paulo’s subway system as a recurrent place in the city where Museum of the Person recording booths are installed. A travelling museum has a mini-mobile studio equipped with digital video and audio recorders. Exhibitions have included: "Memory of neighborhoods - São Paulo on the tracks of time: Brás, Liberdade and Itaquera", with a publication on memories of commercial businesses in the Paraíba Valley region. "Program Local Memory" is a project aimed at allowing school and communities to make their own history. Community leadership training and training of teachers and paedagogy coordinators prepare schools and communities for collection and display of local memory-related archives.

Development Issues

Education

Key Points

The network organisers state: "The members of the global network believe that:

  • Every life story has value and should be part of social memory.
  • Listening to others is a way to offer respect and act as a peer.
  • Every person plays a role as an agent of historical change and an author of history.
  • Memory is an instrument for social and cultural development
  • Understanding through exchange will lead to peace."
Sources

Museu da Pessoa website, July 20 2012, and email from Philip Stafford to The Communication Initiative on July 20 2012.