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. 

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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Summit: What Works? Shifting Norms, Changing Behaviours, Amplifying Voice

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SUMMIT OVERVIEW: This Summit with 1,200 participants, took place in Nusa Dua, Indonesia from April 16th to 20th, 2018. From the What Works? perspective, the main themes of the Summit were Shifting Norms, Changing Behaviours and Amplifying Voice. This space provided an opportunity for people attending and not attending this event but interested in its themes to extend the conversation and learning beyond the confines of the Summit itself - before, during and after that event. An outline of the rationale and focus of the Summit can be seen at this link. If you have an interest in the themes of this Summit please do log in and click Join in top right block to participate.

ORGANISERS: This Summit was planned by a small Secretariat that includes staff from the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, Soul City Institute for Social Justice, UNICEF, BBC Media Action and The Communication Initiative, with guidance from a Steering Committee that includes people from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Breakthrough ; Center for Communication Programs Pakistan; Consortium for Press Freedom, Indonesia; DASRA; Feminahip; Citurna/Imaginario Foundation ; Minga Peru; Oxfam; PSI; USAID; Universidad de los Banos, Philippines; and Wellcome Trust.

Summit PRESENTATIONS - please access this link

Draft Summit DECLARATION with comments and critique from participants - please access this link