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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US Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) media campaigns - Global

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The United States Agency for International Development's Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) has sponsored media campaigns to advance peaceful, democratic change in post-conflict settings worldwide.
Communication Strategies

Projects have included: a voter-education campaign in Indonesia featuring 16 PSAs; a voter-education campaign in Croatia for recruiting domestic election monitors; and, production of various regional specific PSAs to spotlight corruption, promote ethnic tolerance and advance discussion on issues of democratic reform.
Development Issues

Political development, education.
Key Points

The voter-education campaign in Indonesia was cited as one of the major reasons behind the ‘99 Indonesian election's 67% voter turnout and violence-free election. The voter-education campaign in Croatia recruited 5,000 domestic election monitors for the first time and resulted in 78% voter turnout; voters elected opposition democrats for the first time.
Partners



Media Partners: Communication for Change (Nigeria), Visi Anak Bangsa (Indonesia), IREX (International Research & Education Exchange) in the Balkans, among others. Implementing Partners: Development Alternatives Intl. (DAI), RONCO Corporation and International Organisation of Migration (IOM), and Louis Berger, Inc.

Sources

Letter from Anne M. Lee to The Communication Initiative.