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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1st International HIV Social Science and Humanities Conference

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The International Association of HIV Social Scientists (IAOHSS) is organising the first international HIV Social Science and Humanities conference, designed to provide an opportunity for discussing and supporting contributions of the social sciences and humanities to HIV research and action. The conference will focus broadly on strengthening the role of the social sciences and humanities in responding to HIV and AIDS.

According to the conference organisers, HIV is a profoundly social disease, the causes and consequences of which are deeply embedded in the social, cultural, and political processes that shape national development, social institutions and civil society, interpersonal relations, and the everyday lives of communities, families, and peoples. One of the most distinct contributions to be made by the social sciences and the humanities has been their ability to integrate multiple levels of empirical evidence and model complex, non-linear, dynamic relationships in ways that may reconfigure understanding of otherwise seemingly intractable problems and offer novel strategies in their place. This conference is designed to provide a forum for those keen to extend the scope of the social sciences and its capacity to trace connections between all kinds of phenomenon, notably those that contribute to the complexity and changing nature of the epidemic.

The conference themes are:

  • Treatment as prevention
  • HIV and the body
  • Global ethnography
  • HIV, biomedicine, and subjectivity
  • Social epidemiology and social networks
  • HIV and global politics
  • HIV, responsibility, and risk governance
  • Social theory and HIV: new directions, new possibilities

Click here for more information about the conference.

Registration information:
The conference welcomes papers, session proposals, and events that are innovative in their delivery, organisation, range of topics, and type of public or audience. As well as traditional research papers; the conference also welcomes proposals for sessions and papers using ‘new media’ or other forms of new presentation.

Click here for more information about submitting a proposal. Deadline for abstract submission is: February 25 2011.

Conference fees are: early registration fee prior to February 25 2011, ZAR 2,850; regular registration fee prior to June 4 2011, ZAR 3,192; on-site registration fee from June 11 2011, ZAR 3,648.00. The registration fee for delegates includes access to all conference sessions. If registration and full payment are received on or before 4 June 2011, a conference bag and materials are guaranteed. Registration and payment after 4 June 2011, including on-site registration, does not guarantee a conference bag and materials. The registration fee excludes all travel, parking, accommodation, and meals.

Click here to register online.

Click here to download the application form in PDF.

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