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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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Opt2Act

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Launched by Options for Sexual Health (OPT) in collaboration with a number of local partners, Opt2Act is an internet-based sex education advocacy campaign whose goal is to spread awareness and action related to the idea is that access to accurate and comprehensive sex education is a basic right and need of all individuals. The campaign uses interactive technologies as well as youth-created advertising and printed flyers to ask young people and parents in British Columbia (BC), Canada to think critically about what a comprehensive, school-based sexual health education would consist in, and then to take action to demand that the right to that type of education be honoured - to the end of preventing pregnancy and preventing sexually transmitted infections (STIs) such as HIV/AIDS.
Communication Strategies
Opt2Act is an advocacy campaign that uses information and communication technologies (ICTs), such as an interactive website, to raise awareness about the right to, and importance of, sex education and to provide BC youth and their parents with the tools and resources to defend that right. This website offers:
  • A section for young people, which includes the free-to-download youth advocacy kit "Are You getting Enough?" ("Is the sex ed you get at school just like fast food? - quick delivery that leaves you hungry for more facts, let alone at least a side order of feelings? When it comes to Sex Ed. demand to be satisfied.") - as well as an entry form to the "Don't Be a Blank" contest (with archives of stories penned by previous entrants). Various quizzes and links to websites with additional information are also provided.
  • A section for parents, which enables access to a separate Advocacy Tool Kit that "will provide you with the tools to get involved in the development of sexual health education in your child's educational system" - "Parents! Your kids' healthy future depends on their education, and quality sexual health information is key. So if their School Sex Ed program doesn't make the grade, then why not work with the school to fix it?". The Askable Adult's Top 10 Survey is designed to help parents discuss sexuality with kids.
  • Access to a series of public service announcements (PSAs) created by Good Company Communications Inc.'s youth director David Ng, age 18, which are "designed to make condoms seem sexy!"
  • Weekly blogs posted by sex educator Saleema Noon, which are designed to provide an interactive, accessible insight/understanding into the work and importance of a sexual health educator.
In addition to this website and a PSA campaign that featured ads placed on buses, Opt2Act has drawn on the door-to-door distribution of a printed flyer (downloadable here), which was delivered to over 1.3 million homes in British Columbia. This flyer is meant to be creative, entertaining, and stimulating with images such as that of a "super sex-education action figure!" who is described as "easy to talk to - speaks your language! Strong, flexible and FUN!". Various sidebars are provided such as the "myth eraser", designed to debunk myths such as "oral sex doesn't count as sex", "abstinence-only sex is effective", and "AIDS is not my problem." Statistics and a call to action for parents are included in the section "We're not kidding now!"; the flyer also includes a signed endorsement by the Provincial Health Officer.
Development Issues

Sex Education, Rights.

Key Points
According to Opt2Act, 4 out of 5 parents in BC support publicly funded comprehensive sexual health education in school, and 77% of BC adults support youth having a major or moderate say in the sexual health education they receive. In May 2004, Options for Sexual Health held a consensus conference on school sexual health education in BC that included youth, parents, educators, school authorities, public health services representatives and public policy makers. The list of statements that participants developed in consensus to reflect priorities for school sexual health education in BC reflects the commitments of the Opt2Act campaign.
Partners

OPT, ANKORS, Don't Just Do It, Island Sexual Health Society, Options for Sexual Health, That's So Sexy, Vancouver School Board, YouthCO AIDS Society, Youthquest.

Sources

Email from Good Company Communications to The Communication Initiative on February 14 2006; and Opt2Act website; and email from Jessica Peart to The Communication Initiative on August 10 2006.