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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Red de Gobierno Electrónico de América Latina y el Caribe (Red Gealc) - The Network of e-Government Leaders of Latin America and the Caribbean (RED GEALC)

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The Network of e-Government Leaders of Latin America and the Caribbean (RED GEALC) was created in 2003 with the general objective of supporting policies of e-governance in Latin America and the Caribbean, and to promote the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) as a tool to strengthen citizen participation in public life, a cornerstone of democratic governance. The GEALC Network is a joint initiative between the Executive Secretariat for Integral Development of the OAS and Institute for the Connectivity in Americas (IDRC/ICA) with the purpose of promoting horizontal cooperation between the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, and to facilitate the exchange of solutions and experts between the two regions. In 2005, the Inter-American Development Bank joined the aforementioned institutions and began providing support to RED GEALC through its Regional Public Goods initiative, and in 2006 the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA-ACDI) also joined the effort. The Network is made up of the people in charge of their government’s digital governance strategy and representatives of institutions that work and design policies to use e-government as a way to transform and modernize public administration in Latin American countries. Since its inception, the network has acquired many virtual and physical tools that have provided continued support for evaluating e-governance in the region.
Communication Strategies
  • RED GEALC website is the principal regional reference point for e-government, both as a repository for up-to-date information (the page is updated daily), strategic documents, as well as a platform that supports requests and exchanges of horizontal cooperation, thematic workshops, training courses, the e-Gobex system for sharing solutions, and the e-Gob Monitor monitoring mechanism.
  • e-Gobex is a virtual hub designed with the support of IDRC to find and share e-government applications with the objective of helping countries in the region share their solutions in a simple format, thereby avoiding the repeated "discovery" of similar solutions.
  • e-Gob Monitor is a mechanism for monitoring the evolution of e-government that will be useful to the people in charge of e-government strategies as well as political leaders and international organisations, because it will help facilitate policy design and the planning of initiatives.
  • Fondo de Cooperación Horizontal (FO COH) (Horizontal Cooperation Fund) - This fund is set up for the exchange of information among different country experts. This fund has promoted physical workshops in which specific tops defined by regional governments as priorities have been discussed. The agendas are decidedly participatory and geared toward practical application of concepts that are presented and analysed.
  • Annual Meetings of the GEALC network - These are two-day long work sessions held with the participation of all network members. The agenda is structured around three objectives: learning about e-government in each country, analysing the experience of the host country, and planning upcoming network activities with the support of all the member countries.
  • Premios excelGOB (GOB Excellence Awards) - awards for excellence in e-government. These awards were created to call attention to countries in the region about the progress being made in e-government and its impact on people’s lives.
  • Cursos de formación en gobierno electrónico (E-government training courses) - The network offers online courses in the following areas: Introduction to Designing e-government Strategies (available in Spanish, English, and Portuguese), Interoperability, Inter-institutional Public Processes, and Regulatory Aspects of e-government.
  • Canal de videos (Video Channel) - Beginning at the May 2007 Annual Meeting held in Santo Domingo, the Network created a Youtube video station featuring its most important activities with the objective of making them accessible to a larger audience and facilitating access to technical presentations.
  • Proyecto “El Ciudadano y el Gobierno Electrónico en las Américas” ("The Citizen and E-government in the Americas" Project) - This project is the principal work of the GEALC Network in 2011-2012. The initiative is intended to strengthen democratic government processes in the region by constituting a community that builds knowledge of e-government based on professional investigations, and connected to the needs of those in charge of designing and establishing policies in this direction. In June 2010, an invitation to work on applied studies on the priority themes was issued by regional governments. One hundred and two proposals from 16 countries were submitted, with 21 proposals coming in from Peru, 17 from Colombia, 14 from Brazil, 13 from Argentina, and 8 from Mexico. The selection team evaluated the proposals and chose four to be investigated.
Development Issues

Democracy and Governance

Key Points

According to the organisers, the GEALD network has become the strategic partner in all the countries in the region. The network supports and provides incentives for collaboration among all, as well as a forum for disseminating knowledge, development and implementation of e-governments. As a result, a dynamic of collaboration among members has been created, which has increased State efficiency and transparency and has improved service delivery to citizens. This is seen as an indicator of a new focus in the field of application of e-government in the region.

Sources

GEALC RED webpage.