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.
 
Co-founder Victoria Martin is pleased to see this work continue under Wits' leadership. Victoria knows that co-founder Warren Feek (1953–2024) would have felt deep pride in The CI Global's Africa-led direction.
 
We honour the team and partners who sustained The CI for decades. Meanwhile, La Iniciativa de Comunicación (CILA) continues independently at lainiciativadecomunicacion.com and is linked with The CI Global site.
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The World Log

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The World Log is a web platform that spreads user-generated content (blogs, photos, video, and newsletters) related to development cooperation to larger audiences. The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) has developed the online platform to bring the general public closer to the realities of development work throughout the world and to involve them in the issues. The World Log was specifically envisioned as a tool for raising awareness and generating discussion prior to, during, and after the European Development Days in Stockholm, Sweden, in October 2009. Beyond that, its purpose is to engage the general public in the debate and questions of international development.
Communication Strategies

The World Log shows real stories and discussions from development work around the world in what is meant to be an accessible way. Entries are plotted on Google maps and marked by topic, making blogs easily available to those not versed in blog search tools. The platform was heavily promoted during the European Development Days through several official sites such as the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Swedish European Union (EU) Presidency website, and the Sida website. As an aggregator, the goal of the platform is to drive as many people as possible to the blogs and engage them in actual development work discussions and activities from around the world.

Registration for the site is free and takes roughly 10 minutes. Those who blog about development may copy and paste their RSS feeds into their World Log profiles. They can set up standard tags for entries, such as the countries they work in or write about and the issues they regularly address, such as AIDS or water. This way, when someone searches for articles, blogs, and discussions about, for example, water, properly tagged articles appear. Specific tags for each article can be added. For example, if a blogger regularly writes about agricultural development in Rwanda but writes a blog entry about women's issues in Central Africa, he or she can tag that specific blog entry to reflect the different topic.

In addition, newsletters, photos, and videos are all supported and encouraged; all that is needed is the RSS feed. The platform also supports discussions and comments based on entries so that bloggers can follow what readers are saying. Readers who click on an entry are directed to the original site so the blogger registers the hit. Organisers have developed a widget that can be embedded in a site so readers see ongoing discussions and topics on the World Log related to what is written about. Badges are also available for attaching to sites to show affiliation with the World Log.

Development Issues

Development Assistance.

Sources

Email from Lars Hansen, posted by Shannon Downey to the CORE Group Community Listserv on October 27 2009; and the World Log website, accessed November 5 2009.

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