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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Successful Communication: A Toolkit for Researchers and Civil Society Organisations

1 comment

Author

  • Ingie Hovland
The author argues that, within the international development field, it is not more communication of evidence that is needed, but rather better communication of evidence. This handbook aims to help development actors communicate better. It presents 23 tools, divided into the following categories: 'Planning', 'Packaging', 'Targeting' and 'Monitoring.'

It is written for researchers and practitioners who wish to communicate to policymakers. The tools are therefore geared towards the needs of researchers and practitioners in civil society organisations (CSOs), including development non-governmental organisations (NGOs), research institutes, think tanks, universities and networks. The toolkit addresses how researchers and CSOs can best communicate evidence in order to inform or influence policy, to achieve their own stated development objectives, or simply to make their own knowledge accessible and understandable to a wider audience.

The tools included are:
  • Planning Tools - stakeholder analysis, social network analysis, problem tree analysis, force field analysis, national systems of innovation (NSI), how to write a communications strategy
  • Targeting Tools - writing policy papers, building a community of practice, lobbying, websites, blogging, media engagement, radio
  • Packaging Tools - visioning scenarios: show the future, tell a story, provide a solution , use surprise, be persuasive
  • Monitoring Tools - most significant change (MSC), outcome mapping, researcher checklist

Publishers

Publication Date
Number of Pages

72

Source

Email from Ingie Hovland to The Communication Initiative, November 2 2005; and e-CIVICUS newsletter, February 6 2006.

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Comments

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Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 02/15/2008 - 04:04 Permalink

I am Mr. Abdullahi Mohamoud Nur, from Somalia,

I thank to Mr. Ingie Hovland for the resources provided in this web E-CIRCUS.

My Address is; Email: faqay2004@yahoo.com
Thanks