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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Communicators Network for Children and Youth

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This network was created with the aim of giving voice to Honduran children and adolescents. It seeks to promote their role and participation through organising, leadership, and social mobilisation.

Using written media, radio and television, and popular theatre, children and youth report on issues that affect them and promote their rights. This participation is aimed to convert them from being passive subjects of policies designed and implemented by adults to being agents of change.

The first Communicators Network for Children and Youth of Honduras emerged in 1990 in Tegucigalpa, under the name of "Kids Stuff", comprising a group of theatre people associated with a private TV channel. The second network was installed in La Ceiba, Honduras, in the Caribbean region, for producing radio programmes in San Isidro, with the support of the Catholic Church and the municipality.

Communication Strategies

The Red de Comunicadores Infantiles y Juvenilesis, now developed in every department of the country with more than 70 networks of communicators, is formed of groups of 10-40 children or teenagers ranging in age from 6 to 18 years. Periodically, they receive training in child rights and community organisation as well as radio and television production, among other benefits.

 

One result of these collaborations is TVC Children, a programme made by children for children. This initiative has been supported by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) since 2003 and is a new model for citizen participation and dissemination of child rights information on its space for communication, education, and participation at local and regional levels.

Development Issues

Rights, Children, Youth.

Key Points

As part of the promotion of public policies focused on children, the Network created a presentation for the Association of Municipalities of Honduras (AMHON), a proposal to the mayors, to allocate an annual budget focused to childhood, adolescence, and youth by creating the "Municipal Programs for Children, Adolescents and Youth." These programmes would allow child, adolescence, and youth participation in making important decisions in their municipalities, and they would that seek resources of corporations for programmes, not only by investment in infrastructure. The Network has also driven implementation of the Code of Childhood and Adolescence governing Honduras since 1996 and the creation of the National Institute of Youth.

 

Partners

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)

Sources

Challenges Bulletin, No. 16 and the Red de Comunicadores Infantiles y Juveniles website, March 26 2015.