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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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Report: Global Mechanism process

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Many best wishes and thanks for contributing to the consultation process for a possible global mechanism to advance the work, perspectives and interests of the communication and media development, social and behaviour change field of work. Your inputs were invaluable.

The report from the process is now complete and you can access a summary at this link. The full report is also available through a link on this page.

Please do review this report and comment. The implementation process will be very organic. We are very interested in further feedback and ideas to guide implementation. Thank you.

We are now engaged in the next steps to establish this global mechanism based on your inputs and perspectives. Rafael and myself have completed a draft Implementation Plan. That draft plan has been sent to the small group agreed at the New York meeting in June for their initial review. When their review is complete the amended plan will be shared. More soon.

Please note one other development. Plans are advancing for the Shifting Norms, Changing Behavior, Amplifying Voices: What Works? 2018 International Social and Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) Summit featuring Entertainment-Education - summary at this link. This Summit will be held in Nusa Dua, Indonesia 16 to 20 April, 2018.

The Abstracts submission process has just opened. Please check out the summary and if interested use the Abstracts submission link to submit your ideas for Comms Talks (like Ted Talks), skills workshops, oral or poster presentations and/or panels.

There is also a Summit Updates thread at this link - please join if you wish to be kept up-to-date with progress on this Summit.

Thanks - Warren