Social Norms
Social norms action with informed and engaged societies
Social Norms
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 lainiciativadecomunicacion.com and is linked with The CI Global site.
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Benimadim Einar: Professionals Experience Integration in Turkey

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This project is based on the conviction that "[i]ntercultural education has been marginalized as a discipline over many years and this might be due to its constant neglect of the distinctive patterns of values, behavior, traditions, beliefs and immigrant family ideologies that affect cultural minority groups." Developed by the organisation Integration For All (IFA), Benimadim Einar uses the power of the moving image in an effort to enhance teachers', civil servants', and police officers' understanding of integration issues in practical and hands-on ways. Initially supported under the European Commission's Lifelong Learning Programme, this initiative works on the premise that when working with people from different cultures, professionals like teachers need a solid understanding of the norms of that culture.

Communication Strategies

IFA put in place a framework whereby 23 professionals from 8 countries around Europe travelled to a small town in Turkey in order to take part in the same integration programme as immigrants in their own country. The programme covered language and social skills, as well as an intake interview in Turkish. IFA used a documentary approach to record the experiences people were having, to the end of providing participants with an insight into the challenges and frustrations of integration as experienced by newcomers into a country. The goal was to show that integration is not just a one-sided process; integration comes from both sides. The film also seeks to put the question "How to deal with other cultures?" into practice.

 

This film (produced in DVD format) and the participants' evaluation book have since been shown and used in over 17 European countries and used by more than 850 European organisations and two American universities.

Development Issues

Intercultural Understanding.

Key Points

IFA focuses on the integration of immigrants and the intercultural dialogue and cooperation between people from different cultural backgrounds. According to IFA: "Teaching a foreign language or coaching a group of immigrants with different nationalities is a serious task. The educators should not only prepare their lessons, but also be aware of the wishes, cultural background and needs of the learning immigrants. Many educators don't want to reveal how little they know about other cultures, so they don't ask questions. Ultimately, they limit their ability to work in other cultures. Questions show you are interested in your students culture. This interest and consideration helps build your relationship, which is especially important if your culture has a reputation for trying to culturally dominate others."

 

IFA claims that the experience described above "has helped the participants not only to understand but also feel that in native speakers and non-native speakers interaction, the native speaker has more control because of having greater communicative competence; and also tends to take the lead in negotiating meaning...[and] in nominating and terminating topics."

 

Since this experience, 5 additional documentaries using the integration and intercultural communication concept have been created and, according to IFA, more than 850 European organisations are also using this strategy. The concept and film have won several awards.

Sources

"Tackling Integration Issues with the Support of Documentary Film" [PDF], from the Media in Education Newsletter November 2010; IFA website, January 12 2012; and email from Noureddine Erradi to The Communication Initiative on February 16 2012.