Development action with informed and engaged societies

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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Gender and Diversity: IFRC

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"By promoting the integration of gender considerations and respect for differences as enriching elements of any community, we promote progress towards equality. Gender interacts with other forms of diversity creating important interrelationships between discrimination on the basis of gender and discrimination on the basis of other forms of diversity."

From the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) this online resource describes and gives access to IFRC policies and assessment tools on gender and diversity. The opening page defines gender and diversity, links to: the IFRC “Strategic Framework on Gender and Diversity Issues,” an explanatory note on the frameworks, "IFRC Strategy on Violence Prevention, Mitigation and Response 2010–2020", and  and lists the following three outcomes that form the basis for operationalising the framework:

"Outcome 1: Systematic incorporation of gender and diversity in all programmes, services and tools.

Outcome 2: Improved gender and diversity composition at all levels.

Outcome 3: Reduced gender- and diversity-based inequality, discrimination and violence."

The right hand navigation bar lists related documents such as: "Focus on gender and diversity in disaster risk reduction"; and the "Minimum Standard Commitments" in Russian, French, Spanish, English, and Arabic. 

The "Gender and Diversity Organisational Assessment Toolkit" at the bottom of the right hand navigation bar is a link to PDFs that include:

  • Book 1: The introductory document of the toolkit  which gives the background, purpose, intended users, and the structure of the tool in a step-by step guide of 5 themes from page 8-16, including: political will and leadership; organisational culture; resources and capacities; programme delivery and implementation; and accountability
  • Book 2: Conducting the  Assessment and Analysis includes: I. Preparations and approval for assessment; II. How to conduct the assessment; III. Gathering the information; and IV. Analysing and interpreting findings. The methodology includes: document review, individual interviews, and focus group discussions from which quantitative and qualitative analyses are done.
  • Book 3: Recommendations and Plan of Action  includes:V. Making recommendations; VI. Developing a Plan of Action; and Annexes 
  • And a "pull out" document that is a scorecard which summarises the themes and points for assessment in a short format.

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Source

IFRC Library website, February 10 2017.