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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TV Studio Televeziri and Animated Drawings - Georgia

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In an effort to promote reflection among children on themes central to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), this project enabled children to express themselves about the CRC and then to participate in animating and dubbing their own drawings. A television programme featuring the animated drawings was prepared and broadcast on the national channel of Georgian TV.
Communication Strategies
On January 30th, 2001, the programme coordinator met a group of children in a Tbilisi theatre to follow up on the CRC's message about children's rights and to discuss ways to exercise those rights. Equipped with drawing materials, the children sketched pictures on the subject of the CRC. One participant drew a smiling boy holding balloons, with the caption "A child has the right to play". Other rights emphasised in the drawings included the right to health care and the freedom from war. Within minutes their drawings were animated on the stage and set in motion, accompanied by a soundtrack that the children had created. The children were invited to keep the coloured pencils and drawing-books that had been presented by UNICEF.

The pictures the children sent to the local television station were made into short film for TV broadcast in Georgia, entitled "Televeziri". The main heroes in the story were the characters drawn by the children.
Development Issues
Children, Rights, Environment.
Key Points
The CRC, in concert with this programme, allowed many children to learn for the first time about their rights. Televerziri has received many awards at various festivals.

As a spin-off of this project, two animated films ("Magnificent Sky or Ozone Layer" and "Autumn Bus") were produced about environmental problems.
Partners

UNICEF, the European Union, Georgian Ministry of Environment, TACIS.

Sources

Letter sent from Maya Kurtsikidze to the Communication Initiative on March 15, 2002.

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