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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Southern African Gender and Media Awards

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As part of the Gender and Media Summit entitled: ‘365 Days of Local Action to End Gender Violence: What Works', March 22 - 24 2010, Gender Links (GL), Gender and Media Southern Africa (GEMSA) Network, and the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) will be hosting the Southern African Gender and Media Awards. The award aims to recognise and acknowledge good practice in mainstreaming gender in reporting across the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

Submissions are invited in the following categories:

Print (including articles published in magazines, newspapers, online publications):

  • News (750 words or less)
  • Feature stories (between 750-1,500 words)
  • Opinion and commentary (between 750–1,200 words)
  • Cartoons


Radio:

  • News
  • Radio documentaries
  • Talk shows


Television:

  • News
  • Documentary


Photojournalism:

  • Photographs


Awards for best practices in reporting on the following issues:

  • Gender violence
  • Political participation
  • HIV and AIDS
  • Sustained reporting on a particular issue (in this category the applicant needs to submit a series of articles on a particular issue or theme)


Business Unusual Gender and Economic Reporting Award: Participants in the Business Unusual (BU) Training Course conducted by GL in partnership with media training institutions across the region over the last two years are invited to submit articles or productions that demonstrate gender-aware economic reporting. Three BU awards will be issued. The first two are for participants in the training and the third is open to everyone:

  • most innovative article/production during the training;
  • most innovative article/production after the training; and
  • article/production that, in the view of the judges, has given audiences the best understanding of why gender is critical to economic advancement in the SADC region.


Application Info

Click here for more information about the summit and awards.

Applicants should submit a completed application form for each piece being submitted and any other documentation that can strengthen the application, and copies of the submitted work.

  • For print: actual artefacts: photos, newspaper articles, clippings, etc.
  • For radio: audio cassettes/CDs
  • For television: video cassettes/DVDs
  • For photojournalism: actual artefacts
  • For opinion and commentary: actual artefacts
Date
Source

Gender Links website on February 19 2010.