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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Bridging Research and Policy in International Development

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This special issue of the Journal of International Development presents the main papers and conclusions from the 2004 Development Studies Association conference on Bridging Research and Policy in International Development. These papers aim to add new perspectives and share lessons learned related to bridging research and policy. In particular, they highlight four key lessons: the need for donors and research foundations to foster research capacity and to protect it from political interference; the need for researchers to use detailed case material within and across national boundaries in order to inform high-level policy debates; the importance of presenting research results in such a way that they cannot be over-simplified; and the value of creating alliances between researchers and civil society advocacy groups.

Edited by Simon Maxwell and Julius Court, this publication features keynote papers by:
  • Naresh Saxena (Former Secretary, Planning Commission, Government of India)
  • Matthew Taylor (Head of Policy Planning in the Prime Minister's team in Downing Street and former Director of the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR))
  • Maureen O'Neil (President of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC))
  • Masood Ahmed (Director General of the UK Department for International Development (DFID))
The special issue also includes four research-policy case studies from researchers - focusing on African Politics; Poverty Reduction; Primary Education; Aid and Finance.

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