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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Miss HIV Stigma Free 2003

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Summary

Amidst cultural dance and drama performances, fourteen HIV-positive women in Botswana paraded down the runway this weekend in a beauty pageant aimed at destroying misconceptions about people living with the disease.


This was a beauty contest with a difference - the judges were searching for participants who could be ambassadors of HIV/AIDS, and displayed courage, sacrifice and patriotism.


The eventual winner of Miss HIV Stigma-Free, Kgalalelo Ntsepe, told the audience she was living proof that antiretroviral drugs worked. "I was scared to go home, and my parents did not recognise me as the child they once knew," she said. Initially weighing 48kg before beginning treatment, Ntsepe is now a healthy 75kg beauty queen.


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Source

IRIN PlusNews 12th September 2003.