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

Time to read
2 minutes
Print
a- a+
Published 22 years ago
Last updated 1 year ago
Read so far

JSI UK - UK, East & So. Africa, So., So. East, & East Asia

0 comments
John Snow International Research and Training (JSI) UK is an independent non-profit affiliate of John Snow Incorporated that works in the UK and elsewhere to promote and protect public health. JSI UK provides technical assistance multi-sectorally across a range of Department for International Development departments, including social development, sustainable and rural livelihoods, economics, and governance. Other clients include bilateral and multilateral agencies and NGOs working in the field of public health and development. JSI UK provides technical assistance by initiating and maintaining communication networks; managing multi-media information and library services; consultancy management; developing programmes and strategies; and conducting evaluations. JSI UK conducts projects - with a focus on information and communication technologies (ICTs) - primarily in Zimbabwe, Nepal, East Timor, and Kenya.
Communication Strategies
JSI UK's main project has been the management of the DFID Sexual and Reproductive Health Resource Centre. JSI UK has also focused on:
  • Facilitating an institutional response by DFID to the HIV epidemic through the development and piloting of advocacy tools;
  • Promoting multi-sectoral approaches to HIV/AIDS that enhance understanding of the social and economic causes and consequences of the epidemic;
  • Designing and managing a sexual and reproductive health programme in Zimbabwe;
  • Providing technical support to national resource centres;
  • Designing reproductive and sexual health programmes in Malawi;
  • Evaluating the UNFPA reproductive health, birth spacing, and sexual health project in Cambodia;
  • Appraising the World Bank project on maternal health and safe motherhood in Cambodia;
  • Preparing briefing papers on key technical issues including young people's health, social marketing of STI treatment kits, Anti-Retroviral Therapy, mother-to-child transmission of HIV; and communications and HIV;
  • Developing guidelines on the female condom for WHO;
  • Supporting Kenya and UK Professional Associations on the quality of maternal health care;
  • Conducting studies of sector-wide approaches, health sector reform, and decentralisation for UNFPA in Tanzania;
  • Enabling environments by building community-led responses to HIV/AIDS in India for DFID;
  • Evaluating the NGO component of the Kenyan Family health programme;
  • Appraising HIV/AIDS related work for the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports in Cambodia;
  • Monitoring a reproductive health project in Morocco designed to avert maternal death and disability for Columbia University, USA;
  • Evaluating the DKT condom social marketing programme in Vietnam;
  • Supporting developing strategic approaches to enhance the DFID response to HIV in Asia.
  • Applying new ICTs in practical settings
  • Managing 'virtual' conferences on HIV-related topics like mother-to-child-transmission, communications and HIV, assisted reproductive technology (ART) strategy development, and virtual team-working;
  • Synthesising and disseminating lessons learned in relation to assisted reproductive technology (ART), communications, and HIV;
  • Designing, developing, implementing and editing information portals and web sites;
  • Providing newsletters and conducting desk research on a variety of sexual and reproductive health issues;
  • Facilitating communication between DFID's Knowledge Programmes at 13 UK research institutions and enabling Knowledge Programme outputs greater access to the wider policy audience;
  • Managing 'Getting Research into Practice' (GRIP) by providing best practice, lessons learned, and case studies through the GRIP website.
  • Conducting consultancy management in these areas:
    • Managing short- and long-term technical assistance in UK, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Latin America for DFID, EU, World Bank, FCO, Population Concern, and others;
    • Developing an international and national consultant database;
    • Managing conferences and events;
    • Facilitating study tours for visiting professionals from overseas.
  • Building technical capacity based on the expertise of in-house staff (reproductive and sexual health advisers, information services staff and consultancy management), international and national consultants (accessed through a regularly updated database); and partner organisations (including those based in developing countries, UK-based institutions associated with the DFID Knowledge Programme, other UK-based academic and practice-based organisations and other European, and US-based partners).
Development Issues
HIV/AIDS, Health, Technology.
Key Points
JSI UK is affiliated with John Snow Incorporated and JSI US, both of which work in public health in developing countries. With offices in more than 70 countries, JSI US manages health-related projects related to maternal and child health, family planning, logistics, and organisational development.
Partners

DFID.

Sources

Letter sent from Colin Pringle to The Communication Initiative on September 2, 2002.