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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Youth Vibes

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In June 2007, the Commonwealth Youth Programme Caribbean Centre (CYPCC) began broadcasting a youth internet radio-based initiative in the Caribbean. Launched in association with the Caribbean Internet Radio Portal (CIRP) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Youth Vibes Radio is designed to provide avenue for collaboration with other Commonwealth organisations to deliver open and distance learning education for youth leaders and youth development professionals. In addition, the use of community radio here is meant to advance the youth empowerment agenda, and to foster the creation of strategic partnerships amongst young changemakers in the Caribbean.
Communication Strategies

This initiative draws on information and communication technology (ICT) to engage, connect, and educate young people. The internet radio station is broadcast live from the Information Department at the CYP Caribbean Centre in Georgetown, Guyana, and has the capacity to transmit from other locations throughout the region by use of a laptop computer and other accessories. (Click here to access a programme schedule, and to listen to the broadcasts online.)

Specifically, Youth Vibes uses ICTs to alert listeners about youth development events in the Commonwealth Caribbean - providing live and delayed coverage of its projects and events. The Centre also uses the station as a medium for transmitting regular news clips, and for broadcasting interviews with programme staff, policy makers, partners, and other stakeholders in youth development in the region. Youth Vibes is also interactive; CYPCC stimulates informed debate on such topics as effective youth participation, the Commonwealth Plan of Action for Youth Empowerment, the CYP Youth mainstreaming agenda, and youth empowerment strategies to create a drug and violence-free society.

Youth Vibes also produces a newsletter that shares details about communication-centred youth initiatives being carried out in the Caribbean. For example, the October-December 2007 issue describes the launch of the Commonwealth Plan of Action for Youth Empowerment (PAYE) 2007-2015, which centres around involving empowered young people in active work to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This newsletter also focuses on projects such as "Get A Life", which was developed by the Government of Belize in an effort to provide young people who are prone to crime and
violence with life and career skills. It describes training sessions held for journalists in order to provide them with action points and indicators to enable them to effectively cover youth development issues.

Development Issues

Youth, Education.

Partners

CYPCC, CIRP, and UNESCO.

Sources

e-CIVICUS 348, July 19 2007; and UNESCO website.

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