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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EQVIWA - Regional Action for Equal Visibility for Women

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'Be active. Be emancipated' (B.a.B.e), is a feminist strategic, advocacy and lobbying women's organisation based in Zagreb, Croatia, which is engaged in a new regional project; EQVIWA - Regional Action for Equal Visibility for Women. The project's aim is to facilitate change in the social values and increase the visibility of women in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia and Montenegro. The project combines elements of social research and analysis, an evaluation of legal frameworks, training and workshops, and gender conscious media production.

B.a.B.e is a regional NGO that was established in 1994 to "affirm and implement women's human rights," and is a member of the CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation network. This current project was scheduled to last 18 months, commencing in January 2004 and received funding from the European Commission’s CARDS Regional Democratic Stabilisation Programme.
Communication Strategies
The EQVIWA project aims to establish a "professional gender sensitised media environment." The key activities within the project are:
  1. An analysis and production of a report on Media Legal Framework from a Gender Perspective: Legal experts familiar with the legislation regulating the media will be trained to analyse laws from a gender perspective and will compare them with EU standards. During the training the experts will develop a common questionnaire that will be used for the analysis of laws and bylaws. It will also establish a network of experts in the media legislation in selected countries
  2. Research on the Women's Audience Reception of Gender Representation in Mainstream Media including Advertisements: This will take the form of participatory research with a representative sample of female media audiences in each country. It is hoped that the participatory approach will provoke interviewees to start questioning and rethinking their relationship to the existing media content. In addition several focus groups will be used, two with female audience members and two with media professionals. The results of both these research activities will be published in a web report.
  3. Two additional elements of training: 1) Training for professionals in electronic media production with a focus on television. The aim is to enhance skills in designing and delivering messages via the media related to gender issues. 2) Interactive training for media professionals and women's and human rights activists. Three prominent women activists from each country, as well as three prominent journalists (television, radio and print media) from each country, will be invited to work together for four days. It is hoped that both will contribute to the development of a regional network of gender sensitive media professionals.
  4. Independent gender sensitive media production: According to B.a.B.e., media production is believed to be the most effective way to demonstrate "critical issues and proposed alterations." This activity has three elements: 1) Production of three documentaries of professional quality that reveal the predominant gender stereotypes. The documentaries will be presented to the general public and offered for broadcast to national public televisions. They will also be offered to ministries of education to be used as tools in media literacy programmes. 2) Production of an annual calendar, which will contrast the nude calendars commonly found in the region. A team will publish an annual calendar that depicts women and men as equal partners, with humour and affirmative messages. 3) Establishment and maintenance of the EQVIWA website, which aims to facilitate sustained regional cooperation and information sharing, and contribute to public awareness.
Development Issues
Gender Equity, Women.
Key Points
All successor countries of the former Yugoslavia have been undergoing great social change including a transformation of the media. According to B.a.B.e., this process has largely excluded gender sensitive perspectives. Privatisation of the mainstream media has led to commercialism, sensationalism, and an increase of the amount of entertainment published and broadcast. "Thin models and naked female bodies, selling goods and themselves, have overpoweringly became a dominant pattern of women’s presentation in the media."

The EQVIWA project aims to combat this trend introducing women's perspectives into the mainstream media and combating the overt sexualisation that is prevalent.
Partners

B.a.B.e. - "Be active. Be emancipated.", European Commision's CARDS Regional Democratic Stabilisation Programme.

Sources

CIVICUS, "BaBe supports the Equal Visibility for Women in Eastern Europe," e-CIVICUS, Issue 234, (December 3-16 2004); and EQVIWA website.