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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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Promotion of Girls' Education (PROGE) - presented by Blessings Mtuwa Nkhata

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I reviewed the presentation #5  on Girl Child Education in Malawi. Statement is clear and well organized. Ideas are potent and should yield results. My observations are:

1.     Ideally project should have included some qualitative research to explore why parents do not send girls to school and why girls drop out so rapidly.  What benefits and drawbacks they vision of girls education?

2.     This phenomenon is not only true for Malawi but many other countries with Muslim populations. In other words, religious instructions are misinterpreted to de-emphasize girls education. I have seen it in Kenya. In 1986, I launched a small initiative to raise awareness and funds for girls education in local Muslim communities.

3.     Don’t know if the campaign in Malawi highlights benefits of educating girls? Its not only a human right, girls education means better care of family, children, better family planning, and girls can contribute to family’s income just like boys with the same level of education. There is plenty of research evidence to support these assertions.

4.     This project includes 100 meetings with the communities. Hopefully communities beliefs and values concerning girls education will emerge from these meetings that will be helpful in fine tuning interventions.