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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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Internet - PANOS Briefing: The Internet & Poverty - Real Help or Real Hype?

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Summary

Internet - PANOS Briefing: The Internet and Poverty - Real Help or Real Hype?



Data and Trends

  1. Access and use of the Internet is accelerating faster in developing countries than anywhere else - by 2001 users in Africa,


  2. Latin America, the Caribbean, Eastern and Central Europe will have almost quadrupled from today's 7.6 million to 25.6 million.


  3. Asia-Pacific growth will be even faster - from 6.5 million users today to 29.3 million in 2001


  4. By comparison the number of web users I the USA will double from 51.6 million to 106.8 million, with a similar doubling in Western Europe.


  5. However, in the developing world, the Internet will still only available to a small percentage of the population


  6. In Africa all but 4 countries now have Internet connectivity: 700,000 people use basic internet services [mainly email]


  7. about 0.1% of the population which is a six-fold increase from three years ago.


  8. These figures need to be treated with caution - in Africa, for example, South Africa accounted for more than 48,000 of 50,000 "hosts" on the African continent


  9. Globally 63% of users are male and 37% are female - ratio that has remained static for a number of years. The Association for Progressive Communications claims that male domination of the Internet could be as high as 95%.


  10. In comparison with other technologies in Africa - radio covers 75% of the population; television 40%; and the Internet 0.1%


  11. Further access in developing countries is constrained by low access to telephones - on average 1.5 people in every 100 have access to a telephone. 80% of the world's population has no access to a telephone.


  12. Of the world's 16 million Internet host computers, two-thirds are located in North America


  13. However, fastest growth in computer sales is in developing countries - in Africa increasing by 12% per year

Source:

PANOS Media Briefing no.28; April 1998; ‘The Internet and Poverty"; available from PANOS 9 White Lion Street, London N1 9PD, U.K. or on internet at the PANOS website.


Contact:

Panos Institute

info@panos.org.uk

James Deane

James.Deane@bbc.co.uk


On the basis of this and other data the Briefing moves to assess the potential impact of the Internet on poverty - highlighting the opportunities and the issue and constraints