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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World Have Your Say (WHYS)

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World Have Your Say (WHYS) is "the home of the BBC's global conversation". It is hosted by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Global News, but its agenda is set by citizens around the world who are taking part. The goal is use all technology available to make the programme - including live BBC World Service radio and BBC World television - as open as possible.

Communication Strategies

This is an effort to make media participatory in a live way. WHYS receives phone calls, calls over the net, text messages, emails, and comments on the blog in an effort to create a global conversation where the BBC provides the platform but contributors control the topics that are discussed and how they are discussed. Visitors to the WHYS blog are invited to suggest topics for discussion. The WHYS team sits down at around 1100GMT ("if you'd like to join us on the phone let us know"). They talk through story suggestions they have received from listeners, make suggestions themselves, and monitor the stories which are being discussed the most online. They also check which stories on the BBC News website are being read the most and commented on the most. They then discuss which stories and issues warrant a place in the programmes - BBC World Service radio at 1800GMT on weekdays and on BBC World News television at 1500GMT on Fridays. "No story will make the show unless the person suggesting it (whether listener or WHYS staff) can prove it is of global interest."

Key Points

WHYS's Facebook page is here: The Twitter hashtag is: @BBC_WHYS

Sources

WHYS website, February 20 2012.