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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Inveneo and Green WiFi Announce Partnership to Jointly Develop and Deliver Solar-Powered WiFi to Remote and Rural Communities

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Summary

Two United-States-based social enterprise groups - Inveneo and Green-WiFi - are working to distribute a low-cost, solar-powered mesh wireless networks products solution to improve ease of installation and to reduce costs for rural wireless networking around the world. The two organisations hope that the "SoFi" solution will contribute to bridging of the digital divide.

Green WiFi's product, planned for limited trial release at the end of 2006/early 2007, consists of a small form factor solar-powered WiFi node, a battery, and an intelligent charge control system. In an effort to address what the organisation feels is the biggest barrier to bridging the digital divide, SoFi has been developed to respond to the lack of reliable electricity in developing areas required to power the network. Designed to run out-of-the-box with no systems integration or power requirements, "all that is required is a single source of broadband access. Green WiFi nodes can then be deployed on rooftops to form a self-healing network that hops the source signal over a virtual 802.11b/g grid. Because these nodes require no fixed installation or power tie-ins, these nodes can form an unplanned, mobile grid that can grow or be relocated as needed." To learn more about the technical specifics of Green WiFi's solution, click here.

Inveneo plans to trial Green WiFi's SoFis and incorporate them into its portfolio of information and communication technology (ICT) solutions for non-government organisations (NGOs), local governments, private entities, and the communities they serve. The goal is to make ICT more accessible, easier to use, and supportable so that organisations have the tools to effectively deliver development, education, and health services to rural communities. By incorporating Green WiFi's product, Inveneo hopes to improve upon its own solution - the Inveneo Communications System, which is described as having "ultra-low power usage, low-cost, off-the-shelf hardware and the Asterisk open-source software" and thus being "affordable to purchase and sustainable to operate."

Web link
Click here to access the document on the Inveneo website.
Source

Inveneo Quarterly Newsletter, August 2006 [PDF]; and the Green-WiFi website; and emails from Marc Pomerleau to The Communication Initiative on September 27 2006.