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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It Starts with Us Campaign - Global

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In May 2003 a representative to the Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (the Global Fund) and the Global Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (GNP+) initiated a campaign to demonstrate the ongoing commitment of HIV-positive people to the Global Fund. It Starts with Us asks HIV+ persons to contribute their own resources and is, thereby, meant to be a communication initiative with political as well as economic implications. The campaign is designed to encourage donor countries and the private sector to join with HIV+ persons to support the Global Fund.
Communication Strategies
Philippa Lawson, HIV+ representative of Infected and Affected Communities to the Board of the Global Fund, and Stuart Flavell, International Coordinator of GNP+, launched the campaign at the International Treatment Preparedness Summit in Cape Town. GNP+ will manage and promote the campaign.

It Starts with Us ask HIV+ people to send cash directly to GNP+. By bringing a bag of money to the fifth Global Fund Board meeting on June 3 2003, members of Philippa Lawson's delegation intend to show the Global Fund Board, in a concrete and physical way, that the Global Fund matters to people living with HIV/AIDS.

It Starts with Us complements other efforts to support the Global Fund, such as the Fund the Fund campaign (click here for a description of this programme).
Development Issues
HIV/AIDS, Health.
Key Points
Initiated in 2001, The Global Fund is an independent public-private partnership designed to attract, manage, and disperse funds to support technically sound and cost-effective programmes designed to fight AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. This country-level grant application process requires broad multi-sectoral participation of public and private sectors.

The Global Fund is currently underfunded, despite the fact that, by 2005, 500,000 people will begin HIV medication (this includes a six-fold increase in the number of people receiving HIV treatment in Africa); 500,000 children orphaned because of AIDS will receive support; 2 million people will receive TB treatment; and 20 million will benefit from treatment for malaria. The Global Fund currently lacks the $1.4 billion it needs to approve its third round of grants in October 2003.

Although It Starts with Us seeks to gather funds on an ongoing basis, there is an immediate need for quick cash donations in time for the June 3rd Global Fund Board meeting. Outside the context of this meeting, donations may be sent directly to the Global Fund via the UN Foundation.
Sources

Letter sent by Jennifer Bushee to Nigeria-AIDS eForum on May 21 2003; and It Starts with Us press release. (French and Spanish translations of the press release are available; see contact information).