Soul Beat Africa
African development action with informed and engaged societies
Soul Beat Africa

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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Uniting Communities to Mitigate Conflict (UCMC)

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Launched in June 2010 by IREX, Uniting Communities to Mitigate Conflict (UCMC) engages women and youth to address clan differences, which can serve as a driver of conflict in Somalia but can also serve as a source of conflict mitigation. Funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and working with local partners, the programme provides training on conflict transformation and the development of media products, including newspaper articles, radio debates, public service announcements, and documentaries, to promote positive approaches to resolving conflict and promoting mediation to avoid conflict.

Communication Strategies

UCMC is a twenty-month programme implemented by IREX across the three zones of South-Central Somalia, Puntland, and Somaliland. The programme's objectives are to: enhance conflict mitigation skills among women and youth, develop media products promoting peace and mediation, and engage and provide forums for communities to discuss sources of and solutions to clan-related conflict.

As part of the programme, individuals of different clan and subclan communities are coming together to work toward conflict transformation - as leaders of civil society organisations, trainees in peace-building media, and participants in dialogues on clan dynamics. The project is designed to limit the ability of war-makers to seize on clan divisions by giving key actors, especially women and youth, the tools of media and conflict mitigation to defuse harmful clan attitudes and constructively address clan differences.

The programme brings together youth and women's organisations from each zone as key actors in fostering public conversations on peaceful approaches to clan-related conflict for training in peacebuilding, media skills, and facilitation. An initial workshop brought together 16 representatives from nine partner organisations, drawn from the peacebuilding, women’s and youth sectors, for three days of discussion on programme goals and planned activities.

Partner organisations receive subgrants to produce media messages on the transformation of clan-related conflicts and to hold a number of community conversation events promoting increased dialogue on the intersection of clannism and conflict.

The Uniting Communities to Mitigate Conflict website provides information and updates in both English and Somali.

Development Issues

Conflict resolution, Women, Youth

Key Points

IREX is an international nonprofit organisation providing leadership and programmes to improve the quality of education, strengthen independent media, and foster pluralistic civil society development.

Partners

IREX, , United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Academy for Peace and Development, NAGAAD Umbrella, Somali Development Trust, The Horn of Africa Voluntary Youth Committee, We are Women Activists (WAWA),

Sources

IREX website and Uniting Communities to Mitigate Conflict (UCMC) website on June 2012.