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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The Literacy Project

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This volunteer-run oral history and research project is inspired by the belief that literacy is a fundamental social justice and human rights issue, essential for a healthy and dignified society and a fully functioning democracy. Using information and communication technology (ICT), the Literacy Project collects, shares, and archives personal testimonies about literacy in the Americas.
Communication Strategies

Through a variety of media and documentation methodologies - audio and video - this initiative communicates the experiences of men and women who have taught literacy to others, worked to implement literacy programmes, or struggled to achieve literacy themselves.

Visitors to the Literacy Project website, which is a work in progress, may watch a video online about the 1961 literacy campaign in Cuba which includes, for example, interviews with women who, in 1961, heeded the call to leave their urban high schools to teach literacy in rural areas of the country. Also, one may read about literacy and illiteracy in the United States today, and the challenges and strategies associated with treating low-literacy patients in the health care system. In addition, organisers are in the process of exploring the history of literacy campaigns and literacy programmes throughout the Americas, with a special focus on the intersection of race, class, and gender as it relates to literacy.

Development Issues

Literacy.

Partners

The Literacy Project is fiscally sponsored by the Free History Project.

Sources

Literacy Project website.