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 cila.comminitcila.com and is linked with The CI Global site.
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Cyber Dialogues

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This project used new information and communication technologies (ICTs) as a tool for raising awareness and changing behaviour in South Africa as part of the global Sixteen Days of Activism on Gender Violence in 2004. The global Sixteen Days initiative is held each year between the period from 25 November, International Day of No Violence against Women, to 10 December, Human Rights Day. This period is recognised in Southern Africa as an opportunity to conduct campaigns against gender violence. The cyber dialogues project aims to:
  • empower citizens, especially women, in the use of new technologies
  • encourage citizens to air their views and speak out against violence and abuse
  • make "e-governance" work for gender justice
  • link people across provinces and across borders in a common cause.
Communication Strategies

The cyber dialogues combined facilitated, interactive dialogues on the ground with a link to a central hub at the national level where experts and decision-makers are available at a fixed time each day to answer questions in a live "chat room". The interactive process featured a bulletin board to which individuals could post messages and a daily exchange of information between countries in Southern Africa, as well as a video link-up between all those who participated on the last day of the campaign.

Through organised debates and exchanges on agreed-upon themes on each day of the campaign, as well as media facilities at the central hub, the strategy included a mainstream media component. During the Sixteen Day campaign, South Africa's Gender Links produced a special bulletin of its Gender and Media (GEM) Opinion and Commentary Service featuring first-person stories by survivors of gender violence and perpetrators who have reformed their ways.

This process was carried out through a broad-based partnership process. Content, facilitation and arrangements for each day were made by a consortium of non-government organisations (NGOs) including: Gender Links, the Gender Advocacy Programme, ADAPT, NISAA Institute for Women's Development, Tshwaranang, the Inter-Faith Committee, Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, Network on Violence Against Women, Amnesty International, Youth Development Network, Men's Movement of South Africa, and Sexual Harassment Project. Several NGOs, the GCIS Multipurpose Centres, and councillors facilitated discussions and input at the community level. Regional links took place through the Gender and Media Southern Africa (GEMSA) Network.

Development Issues

Gender, Technology, Rights, Violence, Women.

Key Points

The cyber dialogues "ended with a strong call to ensure that 'peace begins at home.' The dialogues, according to a statement released by partner organisations on 10 December 2004 (Human Rights Day), 'opened an unprecedented space for those most directly affected to speak out.' This happened both in the face-to-face discussions that took place at 66 centres in all nine provinces as well as in the daily lunch time chats that allowed these groups to pose questions to the 55 experts and decision-makers who took part in the cyber dialogues on different days." Click here to open or save the cyber dialogues final report as a Word document.

Partners

Department of Correctional Services, Government Communication and Information Services (GCIS), the City of Johannesburg, civil society organisations, the Network on Violence Against Women, Women's Net, Southern African Gender and Media Network (SAGEM), Gender Links, Microsoft, Telkom.

Sources

Email from Kubi Rama to Soul Beat Africa on November 2 2004; and Gender Links website.