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.
 
Co-founder Victoria Martin is pleased to see this work continue under Wits' leadership. Victoria knows that co-founder Warren Feek (1953–2024) would have felt deep pride in The CI Global's Africa-led direction.
 
We honour the team and partners who sustained The CI for decades. Meanwhile, La Iniciativa de Comunicación (CILA) continues independently at lainiciativadecomunicacion.com and is linked with The CI Global site.
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World Comics India

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World Comics India, a partner in the World Comics network, conducts comic creation workshops in rural India, particularly focusing on presentation in "remote and disturbed areas." It is a volunteer movement that receives invitations from non-governmental organisation (NGOs), institutes, and universities and especially intends to serve small organisations and people's movements to enable them to create comics in their own languages as a medium of communication on issues of concern at the grassroots.

Communication Strategies

Through its basic manual, training manual, and campaign manual, the organisation promotes grassroots comics as a development communication tool that can give voice to marginalised groups. The comics have the potential for advocacy and for information dissemination in local languages and can be used to promote literacy. Comics and comic creation can be used as teaching-learning tools.

The organisation works to:

  • create issue specific campaigns
  • train comics workshop trainers
  • publish training manuals, issue-specific comic anthologies, comic newspapers, and information booklets
  • place local voices in mainstream press syndicated services
  • establish independent and local networks for comic creation

The website offers samples from Asia, particularly South Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Mid East, among other locations. It welcomes interns and volunteers.

The basic training manul is available in "English, Hindi, Urdu, Nepali, German, Portuguese, Thai, Marathi, Assamese, Mizo and many more..." by requst from the website.

Key Points

From World Comics India founder Sharad Sharma: "World Comics India in repsonse to the the Community Media Network Group on The Communication Initiative platform: Interestingly, I received notification about this thread while I am running a grassroots comics workshop here in Chhattisgarh, one of the states in India, where tribal population is in good number but unfortunately less representation in all areas. The medium of text book and school education here is Hindi, while there are close to hundred dialects in the region and many of them vanishing fast. Southern part of the state speaks languages like Halbi and Bhatri but there is no content available or many of these teachers don't speak the language of what the majority of the students understand. While World Comics India is extensively using 'Grassroots Comics as a teaching learning tool' to improve the quality of education. Here in current workshop we are helping teachers to develop their own comics in these two languages and cutomise the text book content according to their need.

Grassroots Comics being a cost effective medium (since we use only A-4 size papers and create comics only in Black & White mode) is sustainable. Teachers don't require any resources or support from any agency to create content further in their classroom.

They have already made comics on local poem, saying, stories and also developed their visual cum local languages dictionary. This would not only help to preserve the language but would also help student to gradually understand Hindi, without that majority of them were not able to continue their studies after middle school."

The World Comics introductory video is below.

Sources

Community Media Network, "Local language communication importance" thread, April 30 2016, and World Comics India website, June 22 2016.