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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Tygerberg Children's Hospital and Rotary Telemedicine Project

1 comment
The Tygerberg Children's Hospital and Rotary Telemedicine Project in South Africa uses computers and email to link specialists from Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town to doctors in more remote community or district hospitals in an effort to improve health care in rural areas. The system currently links Tygerberg with Eben Donges Hospital in Worcester, Clanwillaim Hospital and Paarl Hospital, which are 100km, 250km, and 100km from Cape Town, respectively.
Development Issues

Health, ICTs.

Key Points

The Telemedicine Project was initiated for two main reasons: budget cuts to Tygerberg hospital meant that more patients needed to be treated at the district level and many members of the community could not afford the costs associated with going to the hospital. There is a demand for doctors at the district level to treat patients that require special attention or diagnosis that is beyond their training. Tygerberg Hospital specialists must support these doctors but usually do not have time to vist them on-site.


The initiative has assembled off-the-shelf computer equipment and software that is more affordable than commercial telemedicine systems. The projects also involves ongoing training and close consultations with users.

Sources

Pambazuka News site and Bridges site.

Comments

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Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 11/30/1999 - 00:00 Permalink

please could you inform me on any pediatric auditromist in sa.
on ragashg@hotmail.com