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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Hurricane Katrina Advocacy Project

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The national, USA-based nonprofit Praxis Project is using information and communication technologies (ICTs) to build awareness, and stimulate action and advocacy, in response to the August 2005 hurricane ("Katrina") that struck the gulf coast of the United States. A key purpose of this initiative is to provide a communication and activist platform for those who are concerned about the loss of human life and well-being associated with this emergency, as well as the lack of government response that organisers contend has exacerbated the suffering. One specific aim is to provide citizens with the tools to "ensure ample relief, fair treatment and media coverage."
Communication Strategies
This communication initiative was motivated by an activist conviction: "as much as hurricanes are 'natural' disasters, we believe that Katrina's huge death toll is a result of man made policies. The fact is that our public infrastructure has been racialized. Public health and public works are devalued because politicians do not want to risk their political currency helping 'those people'." As implied by this statement, the human rights implications of the Katrina emergency are a key focus of this online effort.

This belief has motivated the organisation to create a dedicated advocacy page on its website. One purpose of this site is to provide information through links to: various articles that cover the issue of structural bias that "led up to this crisis and is pervasive in current crisis management", updates on regional efforts, and a list of organisations that need donor or volunteer support immediately.

The page also includes interactive features enabling individual citizens to take action by emailing either their own letters or form letters to the President, Congress, the Governor of Louisiana (one state particularly hard-hit by the disaster) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Director. Tools for local mobilisation and media advocacy are also offered here, such as a strategic memo from the Youth Media Council and Praxis that features some initial talking points and stories. Multimedia items are offered to motivate individual activism, including a video of comedian Mike Myers and musician KanYe West discussing some of the issues related to poverty and race that some people are associating with the crisis.
Development Issues
Emergency, Rights.
Key Points
The Praxis Project builds partnerships with local groups to influence policymaking to address the underlying, systemic causes of community problems. The goal is "to build power at the local level to increase the capacity of communities to become effective advocates so that they are leaders and catalysts on the legislative and policy decisions that affect their lives."
Sources

US Human Rights Network (USHRN) Hurricane Katrina Update, September 9 2005; and Katrina page on the Praxis Project website.