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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Killing Soccer in Africa: An Arizona Project

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Initiated by Forum for African Investigative Reporters (FAIR) in 2010, Killing Soccer in Africa is an investigative journalism project about corruption in football administration in Africa. The project was initiated after a Cameroonian journalist was severely beaten after he started probing the financial affairs of a top soccer official. In support of the journalist and his story, a transnational investigation was organised which involved media houses in eight countries and resulted in a report outlining corruption and mismanagement in the soccer industry.
Communication Strategies

In total eight countries were covered by the investigation, including six that participated in the 2010 World Cup. Media houses in all eight countries, including the Zimbabwean Financial Gazette, the Cameroonian Weekly Post, the Ugandan Monitor, and the South African City Press, collaborated on the report and in addition publicised the report and related stories.

According to FAIR, "Killing Soccer in Africa" has become the first "Arizona Project" to take place on the African continent. The term is derived from an investigation that took place in the United States’ state of Arizona in 1976. When a reporter was killed during his investigation of a network of criminals, 38 reporters from over 20 media houses followed the story, finished it, and published it. Since then, the title "Arizona Project" is given to efforts by a team of journalists finishing a story that a lone journalist has been forcibly stopped from pursuing. The motto of the Arizona project was "You can stop a journalist, but you can’t kill the story."

In addition to being published in all eight countries which participated in the investigation, the report has been reviewed by radio and online media internationally. FAIR hopes that the release of the full report will result in even more international publicity.

Click here to view the report in PDF format.

Development Issues

Democracy and Governance, Sport

Partners

Forum for African Investigative Reporters (FAIR)

Sources

FAIR website on October 4 2010.