Children
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Children

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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Across the Ocean

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This is a radio network for children - made by children - so that children in North America and Europe will have the chance to get to know each other better via radio and online. It is an output of Radijojo - World Children's Radio Network, an international, not-for-profit initiative that produces educational and entertaining radio and online content with children and for children on 5 continents.

Communication Strategies

Across the Ocean offers children and schools the opportunity to share their stories and to share their artwork, comics, or animated films on the internet. Reports by and for children share information about school exchanges, travel experiences, and possiblilities for getting involved in a worldwide exchange. On this radio network, participants can: exchange stories about life at home and at school; listen to music and learn about books; discuss ideas that are important to children around the world; learn about life on both continents; talk about history, science, and the environment; share ideas on sports and hobbies; and create shows especially for girls.

 

The Across the Ocean website connects children from Europe and the United States to ask each other questions - gleaned from school visits such as that of Dagmar Roth-Behrendt to a primary school in Berlin. A radio programme and photos that resulted from this experience is then used as a launching point for online discussion designed to foster comparisons between, and reflections on, what political life is like in these different countries.

 

Development Issues

Children, Youth, Intercultural Understanding.

Key Points

October 2011 update: Organisers plan to turn Radijojo World Children Radio Network into the World Children's Media Network, reflecting their increasing multimedia and social media work. They are also exploring options for becoming a foundation in the next few years to sustain their educational work in America, Europe and worldwide (including a possible new chapter in the United States). Click here to read a related piece by Wolfgang J. Fischer: "Children Need a Voice in Transatlantic Dialogue".

Partners

The project was made possible by the Transatlantic Program of the Federal Republic of Germany with funding from the European Recovery Program of the Federal Department of Economics and Technology (BMWi).

Sources

Across the Ocean website, August 24 2011; and email from Thomas Röhlinger to The Communication Initiative on September 30 2011.