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 cila.comminitcila.com and is linked with The CI Global site.
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Published 14 years ago
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This Close Campaign

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This Rotary International public awareness campaign centres around public service announcements (PSAs) emphasising that Rotary has reached 99% of its goal to eradicate Polio. The PSAs encourage the public to support the effort to finish off the final one percent. The campaign's tagline is: "We're this close to ending polio."

Communication Strategies

The centrepiece of the campaign is a print advertisement built around the tagline and a portrait photograph of each participant (a diverse group of celebrities and other major public figures are taking part) doing the signature "This Close" gesture with their thumb and forefinger.

 

In order to encourage further public support for its effort to eradicate polio, Rotary International turned to the internet. Visitors to the This Close website may join the influential leaders who have signed on for the final push to eradicate polio by creating their own version of the PSA and uploading it to the website. Once a person creates an ad, he or she can share the personalised “This Close" ad with friends and family through email and social networks such as Twitter and Facebook in order to generate further awareness of the fight to end polio and encourage them to add their name to the ranks of supporters of the fight to end polio. It is also possible to add a personal message of support, enter the submitter's country, and see which countries are digitally leading the charge to spread awareness for polio eradication.

Development Issues

Polio.

Sources

Polio News No. 37; and This Close website, August 2 2011.