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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Women's Voices, Women's Lives Film Project - United States

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The Connell School of Nursing (CSON) at Boston College (Massachusetts, USA) engaged in an HIV/AIDS prevention and education project geared toward young African American women. The project's centrepiece is a film featuring local African American HIV-positive women drawing on their own experiences to warn younger women about the suffering associated with HIV/AIDS. The film is intended to be an educational tool for professional and lay groups who deal with social, youth, and health issues, but also will be made available through the Internet as part of an effort to reach African American female adolescents whose knowledge of HIV and its long-term effects may be limited. One key message of the film is that, despite the pervasive assumption in the United States that HIV is a treatable disease, the drug regimen is difficult and should not be treated lightly.
Communication Strategies
"Women's Voices, Women's Lives" uses intergenerational education and film as a medium for fostering behavioural change. The film features women from the Healing Our Community Collaborative (HOCC) speaking candidly about what it is like to live with HIV. These women, who are beneficiaries of a Boston College project that works to provide health services and educational programmes for women at risk of, or living with, AIDS, first suggested the film project and collaborated fully. The project coordinator explains that "There is a tradition in the African-American community of pulling the next generation along. This film, with older women sharing their wisdom, works well for this cultural group. These women use the language and have the background of the younger women they are targeting. It is very powerful to have someone who looks like you give you this message. It all works to create something meaningful and relevant." The film focusses on the burdens associated with drug treatment for HIV. The women in the film endure various side effects related to the medication; one speaks about having to undergo a tonsillectomy to be able to swallow the pills.

On April 3 2003, more than 100 people attended the preview of "Women's Voices" and a panel discussion with the women, who shared their experiences in making the film and their recommendations to service providers as to how to best meet the needs of HIV-positive people, especially women.

As part of a strategy for ensuring that the group being addressed - young African American women - get the film's message, an Internet project will give teens password-protected access to chat rooms, e-mail, topical links, and the "Women's Voices" video.

Johnson & Johnson is supporting a pilot intervention programme at a Boston area drop-in centre in summer 2003, and plans are underway to introduce the programme to Boston schools in 2004. The film may eventually be merged with footage of the women talking about the making of the film to create an educational documentary for professionals and for women newly diagnosed with HIV.
Development Issues
HIV/AIDS, Young Women.
Key Points
In many countries worldwide, drug treatment for HIV/AIDS is completely unavailable.
Partners

HOCC is co-sponsored by CSON and Boston Medical Center's Center for AIDS Care and Research. A Boston College Research Incentive grant and other university funding have supported the film project. Johnson & Johnson is supporting a pilot of the intervention programme.

Sources

"The Voices of Experience: Nursing faculty assist local women in HIV prevention program", The Boston Chronicle vol. 11, April 24 2003; and "Film Treatment" (from an article in the Boston Globe May 4 2003 by Cate Coulacos Prato) CDC HIV/STD/TB Prevention News Update, May 12 2003; and letter sent from the Gender-AIDS forum to The Communication Initiative on May 22 2003, Copyright GENDER-AIDS 2002 (click here to access the archives; or email GENDER-AIDS@healthdev.net).