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.
 
Co-founder Victoria Martin is pleased to see this work continue under Wits' leadership. Victoria knows that co-founder Warren Feek (1953–2024) would have felt deep pride in The CI Global's Africa-led direction.
 
We honour the team and partners who sustained The CI for decades. Meanwhile, La Iniciativa de Comunicación (CILA) continues independently at lainiciativadecomunicacion.com and is linked with The CI Global site.
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BMW - African Pen Pals

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This programme involves producing a series of 10 television programmes, each 15 minutes in length, that offer an uncensored look into the daily lives of ordinary African children. The series follows the lives of two children (one boy and one girl, from an urban and/or rural area) in each of these countries: South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, and Tanzania. The purpose of the project is to portray real children in Africa within their normal environment in a sincere, realistic and open way. Through this portrayal, the creators hope to give children all over the world a clearer picture of Africa and of how the lives of the children of Africa are no different than any of theirpeers.
Communication Strategies

These programmes, produced on video for television broadcast, feature children whose backgrounds cross barriers of race, class, and gender. The children share their cultures and life experiences. The series features intimate moments of the children's home and family life in order to give children a clearer picture of what it is like to grow up in Africa.


Participating children have also produced a Pan-African series that has covered topics including the Girl Child, the HIV-AIDS Pandemic, Leadership in Africa, and Child Soldiers. Children working with Children & Broadcasting Foundation for Africa (CBFA) have conducted workshops to teach their peers to use video cameras to tell their own stories. Short segments have been produced for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) and UNICEF International Children's Day of Broadcasting.

Development Issues

Children.

Key Points

The series won the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association award for best children's programme. It was a finalist at the Barcelona - SOS Racisme Festival, as well as at the Prix Danube Festival and at the Prix Jeunesse Festival.

Partners

BMW - Munich, Prix Jeunesse International Foundation, CBFA, Union of National Radio & Television Organisations of Africa (URTNA), Artsteenz (Egypt), Minaj (Nigeria), D-TV (Tanzania).

Sources

Letter sent from Firdoze Bulbulia to The Communication Initiative on May 25, 2002.

Comments

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Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 05/14/2006 - 05:03 Permalink

very informative, changed my perspective about children programmes

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Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 04/15/2008 - 12:06 Permalink

how do i get a pen pal