Development action with informed and engaged societies

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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Dialogue among Civilisations

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Art for Humanity (AFH)'s project "Dialogue among Civilisations" is an arts initiative which seeks to address racism, xenophobia, and the plight of refugees. The project involves collaboration between artists and poets from Africa and from countries that participated in the 2006 Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup. Participants are invited to create work on the theme of identity, land, object, and belief. A catalogue based on the project was published in time for the project launch March 21 2010, South Africa Human Rights Day, and the work will be highlighted during a conference and public showings leading up to the June-July FIFA World Cup 2010, to be held in South Africa.
Communication Strategies

The AFH public advocacy campaign includes exhibiting the art and poetry resulting from the project in public spaces throughout South Africa in the form of billboards, banners, exhibitions, and posters. A publication will document the art and poetry, as well as contributions from internationally recognised human rights personalities and specialists in the field of sport, xenophobia, and refugees. The collection to date has received contributions from artists and poets from Africa, Asia, Oceania, South America, Europe, North and Central America and the Caribbean, and Durban Sister Cities.

The catalogue, expected to be published early in 2010, includes contributions from the artists, poets, writers, educators, and human rights activists representing the international community. This publication was made available at the opening exhibition planned for March 21 2010 at the Durban Art Gallery.

A conference on the theme of "Art and Social Justice" was planned for March 21-24 2010; it was hosted by the Durban University of Technology. Following that, a public advocacy campaign will be initiated to also coincide with the 2010 FIFA World Cup, when a large number of people from the rest of Africa and the international community will be visiting South Africa. The Dialogue among Civilians conference will include the collaborative participation of artists and poets such as Themba Shibase and Khona Dlamini from Durban, South Africa, William Kelly and Joel Deane from Australia, and Mel Edwards and Jayne Cortez from the United States.

The portfolio, featuring prints and poetry from the project, will be made available to individuals, organisations, and galleries. Institutions wishing to exhibit the collection of art and poetry are encouraged to invite local artists and poets to create work responding to the theme and objective of the project so that this work can form part of a curated exhibition together with the "Dialogue" collection.

Development Issues

Racism, Xenophobia, Refugees

Key Points

According to AFH, the project has been warmly received, with statements endorsing the project received from organisations and individuals.

AFH is a non-profit organisation based in Durban, South Africa, which specialises in producing fine art print portfolios, exhibitions, billboards, and research projects that advocate various human rights issues in South Africa and internationally.

Partners

National Arts Council of South Africa, Durban University of Technology's Fine Art Department

Sources

Comments

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Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 09:28 Permalink

This is a brilliant initiative and very timely. I am hopeful that other stakeholders will support this project thereby enriching it with ideas and contributing to its sustainability in whatever way possible. Congratulations to Jan Jordaan and his staff and everyone else involved.

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Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 12:44 Permalink

An amazing project and programme. Art for Humanity sets the standards for social justice and community art programmes. Really uplifting to read about such inspiring work from such dedicated and committed artists. Hats off to Jan Jordaan and his team. Robin Opperman- Director- Umcebo Trust.

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