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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Volunteers For Africa - East and Central Africa

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Volunteers For Africa (VFA) is an organisation that enables individuals and organisations to share skills and materials with and alongside people in need. VFA's aim is to build capacity and promote international relations and action. In support of its vision of "natural resource conservation & sustainable development amongst the poor and needy in society", one of VFA's key emphases is volunteer work in the fields of environmental development, natural resource management (NRM), and agriculture. In addition, the organisation's information and communication technology (ICT) programme is designed to build ICT capacity and access.
Communication Strategies
VFA's strategies include:
  • Initiating community-based projects aimed at helping local people achieve their development objectives. Examples include projects to build dams, schools and community polytechnics, and health centres.
  • Helping needy projects, organisations, and persons gain access to needed equipment.
  • Creating partnerships and networks between projects, community-based organisation (CBO's), NGO's, and corporations for the sake of resource sharing.
  • Promoting the spirit of voluntarism.
  • Helping Africans to gain meaningful work experience through volunteer placements within Africa.
 For example, VFA's Sustainable NRM Programme (SNRM) "seeks to work with communities, governments, municipal authorities and other institutions concerned with Natural Resource Management Issues around East Africa. SNRM basically targets empowering local communities own, manage or sustainably utilize natural resources. This could be through Bee Keeping, Poultry, Tree Planting, Community Tourism, Environmental Education, sustainable cottage industry (crafts) and Water Conservation."

The ICT programme of Volunteers for Africa works with schools, hospitals, and other institutions catering to the less fortunate in society, such as the disabled. This programme reviews and contracts volunteers for the training of host institutions in various areas of ICT. "With the advent of the information age, VFA has tried to ensure all people are able to access necessary equipments and donations...."
Development Issues
Agriculture, Natural Resource Management, Technology, Economic Development.
Key Points
"VFA recognizes the fact that natural resources are important to our development and survival; yet they are under increasing pressure from agricultural expansion (and other development activities) to cater for the growing populations."
Partners

ECOTERRA International - Regional Office for East and Central Africa, Oneworld, Korean NGO Programme, Go Abroad, Friends of Mpigi Forests CDO, Serengeti Stop Over, Idealist, Kibera Community Programme.

Sources

VFA website.