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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Comedy Fights Malaria

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Launched in October 2010, Malaria No More's Comedy Fights Malaria campaign is an effort to show that the disease is no laughing matter - by using comedy as a communication strategy. The goal is to engage people in a new way of talking about malaria and see how each person can contribute their own unique skills to keep malaria at the forefront of the conversation.
Communication Strategies

This initiative involves a range of comedians, actors, singers, and other popular personnel in the United States (US) creating videos including "absurd and sometimes downright bizarre messages". By incorporating their voices - somewhat mocking the expected seriousness of the public service announcement (PSA) and using humour instead - Malaria No More hopes to raise awareness amongst global audiences about this issue. The video feeds share statistics, such as, for instance, every 45 seconds, a child in Africa dies from malaria.

Development Issues

Health.

Sources

Global Health Weekly Digest, October 25 2010; and Comedy Fights Malaria website, January 19 2011.