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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Vaccination Trust Library

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Launched in May 2017 by the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe, this vaccination and trust library contains a series of documents to assist ministries of health, centres for disease control, immunisation programmes, or regulatory authority institutions to prepare for and respond to events that could erode confidence in vaccination. Such events can be related to vaccine safety, adverse events following immunisation, changes in the vaccination programme, negative public debate, outbreaks, or pandemics.

The cornerstone of the library is an introduction to the theoretical background and evidence provided in the publication "Vaccination and trust: How concerns arise and the role of communication in mitigating crises" (see Related Summaries, below). Supporting documents provide practical guidance for specific situations, such as ongoing work to build and maintain trust, presenting data, planning an immediate media response and monitoring public opinion.

As of this writing, guidance documents in the library include:

  • The questions journalists always ask in a crisis (2017)
  • Four immediate steps when responding to an event that may erode trust (2017)
  • Four critical elements in the ongoing work to build and maintain confidence (2017)
  • How to prepare a press release (2017)
  • Strategies used by journalists (2017)
  • Tips for spokespersons (2017)
  • Crisis communications plan template (2017)
  • How to ensure a context-specifc response to events that may erode trust (2017)
  • Checklist for preparedness (2017)
  • Safety events: planning the immediate media response (2017)
  • How to prepare a message map (2017)
  • New vaccine introduction: checklist for planning communication and advocacy (2017)
  • Key principles for presenting data (2017)
  • How to monitor public opinion (2017)
  • Stakeholder management (2017)
  • Template terms of reference for a vaccine communication working group (2017)
  • Myths and facts about immunization (2017)
  • How to respond to concerns about vaccination (2017)
  • Risk scales: benefits of vaccines far outweigh the risks (2017)
  • Vaccine safety messages (2017)
  • Societal benefits of immunization (2017)

Publishers

Source

Global Immunization News, June 2017 [PDF]. Image credit: WHO/J. Christensen