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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Polio NIDs Film Footage for Broadcasters

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To help increase the capacity of journalists to report on the Polio National Immunization Days (NIDs), UNICEF is drawing on a free online video source for broadcasters called The NewsMarket. Launched as part of the first round of the 2005 NIDs in 22 countries (16 in West and Central Africa), UNICEF's initiative is an effort to help increase community awareness of the importance of participating in the NIDs.
Communication Strategies
This programme uses information and communication technology (ICT) - in the form of film and the Internet - to supply journalists with the footage they need to inform citizens around the world about the NIDs. By disseminating news about events associated with the NIDs and sharing progress that such vaccination efforts are making to meet global Polio eradication goals, UNICEF hopes to mobilise communities to participate in greater numbers.

Through an email campaign and an icon on the UNICEF website, UNICEF hoped to make national television broadcasters aware of the The NewsMarket. This online broadcast news distribution service enables journalists to find, preview, organise, obtain, and contribute free video and other multimedia content. As part of this "digital downloading" or "digital delivery" process, digital video files are encoded in MPEG-2 format for transfer, via the Internet, directly into newsrooms that are suitably equipped.

As part of the 2005 NIDs, UNICEF provided its own video images on polio immunisation to The NewsMarket in an effort to make them accessible for use in broadcasts around the world. As of this writing, the icon supplied on the UNICEF home page, labelled "video on demand", leads directly to a "personalised" page on the NewsMarket website that features exclusively UNICEF- or NID-related video footage. The aim is to make broadcast-standard video available to broadcasters in as timely and convenient a manner as possible.
Development Issues

Immunisation & Vaccines.

Key Points
To learn more about the NIDs, and to access a calendar of related events (updated weekly), click here.

The NewsMarket was launched in March 2003 by a group of journalists and public relations professionals who sought to "create a tool that would enable news professionals to harness the power and immediacy of the Internet to more efficiently source video and other multimedia content." According to The NewsMarket, more than 4,000 media outlets in 75 countries use the service to "create better and timelier news and feature programming" in a cost-effective way. Key partners of this private company include Telestream, APTN (Associated Press Television News) and Microsoft.
Partners

UNICEF, The NewsMarket.