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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Back to the Village: A Documentary Film

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Working in consultation with Dr. T. Scarlett Epstein, Nagathihalli Chandrashekar, and Mr. T. Thimmegowda, the director of this 26-minute documentary film intends to document, through a villager's eyes, what globalisation means for India's rural population. The urban migration of the rural economically poor, as predicted by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Population Report of 2007, in Africa and Asia will cause the urban population to double between 2000 and 2030; and, as a result, the developing countries' urban centres will make up 81 percent of urban humanity. Small villages in South India are undergoing migration, as documented here, due to lack of investment. The film spotlights the growing urban middle class and the entrepreneurs from the textile industry, whose workers are urban immigrants from the countryside.

The film is the result of longitudinal anthropological style socio-economic studies of two South Indian villages. Its major theme centres on the cause and effect of rural-urban migration, taking the position that governments, pushed on by investment, in India and elsewhere, are building industrial centres, draining funding for the rural sector.

The film is available for purchase from Dr. T. Scarlett Epstein through the contact information below.