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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Impact Data - GIMME6

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Date
Methodologies
Nature and purpose of evaluation:
The evaluation studied the impact of the GIMME6 television programme among children in Cyprus, where broadcast began in December, 2001. 583 Greek Cypriot children and 568 Turkish Cypriot children between the ages of 8 and 12 were surveyed. 19 Greek Cypriot and 25 Turkish Cypriot children participated in in-depth qualitative interviews pre- and post-broadcast to assess shift in attitudes about the "other" community.
Attitudes
Attitudes related to the intelligence, competence, future prospects, and shared interests of the other community showed the greatest change. For example, prior to viewing, 22% of Greek Cypriot children strongly agreed that a Turkish Cypriot peer could grow up to be a professional; after viewing, 41% expressed that judgment. The percentage who strongly agreed that their Turkish peers do well in school increased from 31% pre-broadcast to 47% after. In response to the question of whether their peers "speak the same language as me", 26% of Greek Cypriot children strongly agreed after watching GIMME6 (as compared to 16% pre-viewing). These numbers indicate that GIMME6 has potential to help change negative cultural stereotypes and to instill a sense of greater commonality between children in two different communities.
Access
One-tenth (10%) of the Greek Cypriot sample and one-twentieth (5%) of the Turkish Cypriot respondents had watched any of the GIMME6 episodes.
Source
Letter sent from Gil Kulick to The Communication Initiative on August 27, 2002; and Search for Common Ground site.