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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Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award

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The Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award is presented to individuals who stand up to oppression in pursuit of respect for human rights both in the United States (US) and internationally. Each year, The Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights awards an individual whose courageous activism is at the heart of the human rights movement and in the spirit of Robert F. Kennedy’s vision and legacy.


The award, presented each November in Washington, carries a US$30,000 cash prize. The award also brings a commitment from The Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights to work with the laureates to provide policy support for their human rights activities. By establishing effective relationships with the award laureates, the organisations with which they are affiliated, and other activists in their countries, the Center strives to enhance awareness of and support for their work. The Award ceremony will be held in Washington, DC, US, on a date in November as close as possible to November 20, the birthday of Robert F. Kennedy.

Application Info

Anyone can nominate for the RFK Human Rights Award. The RFK Center will seek nominations from the Global Advocacy Team and from a wide spectrum of individuals likely to know of appropriate candidates. While the RFK Human Rights Award judges may not nominate candidates for the award, they may, before their first meeting, renominate candidates who were nominated but not selected in the previous year. There is no limit to the number of nominations an individual can make, but no self-nominations will be accepted. The RFK Center will request and collect nominations and assemble supporting materials for presentation to the judges. Those nominations clearly not falling within the established criteria will not be presented to the judges.

Click here for on online nomination form.

Date
Previous Winners

Click here to read about previous winners.

Source

Email from Jeffrey Buchanan to The Communication Initiative on March 10 2009.