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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Every Woman Every Child

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Launched by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Summit in September 2010, Every Woman Every Child is a global advocacy campaign that aims to save the lives of 16 million women and children by 2015. It seeks to mobilise and intensify international and national action by governments, multilaterals, the private sector and civil society to address the major health challenges facing women and children around the world - such as by reducing under-5 mortality and infant mortality, maternal mortality, and mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS, and by ensuring that more people are sleeping under a bed net and receiving immunisations.

Communication Strategies

This advocacy effort puts into action the Global Strategy for Women's and Children’s Health [PDF], which presents a roadmap on how to enhance financing, strengthen policy, and improve service on the ground for the most vulnerable women and children. Every Woman Every Child involves forging partnerships, such as amongst business sectors including information and communication technology (ICT)/mobile, media and communications, consumer goods, pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, healthcare delivery, and financial services. As an example of an activity carried out through the "commitments" garnered as part of the initiative, mobile health initiatives such as Cell-Life and the D-Tree are using SMS (text messaging) and mobile technology to help patients and health workers. To learn more and to access related resources, visit the Every Woman Every Child website

Development Issues

Maternal and Child Health.

Key Points

According to organisers: "Women's and children's health is fundamental to our hopes for a more prosperous, peaceful and better future. Yet despite incredible advances in medical knowledge, millions of women and young children continue to die from diseases and conditions we know how to prevent and treat. Globally, over 21,000 children under five die every day and, every year, more than 350,000 women die from preventable complications related to pregnancy and birth."

Partners

The Every Woman Every Child effort brings together governments, philanthropic institutions and other funders, the United Nations and other multilateral organisations, civil society and non-governmental organisations, the business community, healthcare workers and professionals, and academic and research institutions from around the world.

Sources

Email from Lisa Russell to The Communication Initiative on September 19 2011; and Every Woman Every Child website, December 2 2011.