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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Right to Information Fellowship: India

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The Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT), Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Government of India, announces 5 fellowships for research on transparency and accountability in government for a 3-month period.

The DOPT is administering a “Plan scheme” titled “Improving Transparency and Accountability in Government through effective Implementation of the Right to Information Act”. The primary goal of the scheme is to contribute towards more accountable and transparent government. It has several components, including programmes for awareness generation and training, as well as e‐governance initiatives for right to information (RTI). Under this scheme, DOPT proposes to offer 5 short-term fellowships to researchers from the field of media / civil society professionals / RTI trainers to conduct field-based research on themes relating to RTI. It is hoped that the research output will enhance understanding of the status of the implementation of the act, including its successes, constraints in its implementation, and how those are being / could be overcome and what more needs to be done to help achieve the objectives of the act.

The fellowship is open to professionals in the age group 25 to 40 from the field of journalism (newspaper/ magazine/ radio/ television), civil society and research, and training in the field of RTI. The applicant should have: proven credentials in his / her professional area, some prior experience of work relating to the RTI, and an aptitude for research.

Application Info

Proposals are invited on the following topics:

  • Issues relating to awareness generation and accessibility for seeking information.
  • Role of civil society in strengthening the RTI regime and how government may coordinate with the efforts of the civil society organisations.
  • Successes of RTI in improving transparency and accountability.
  • Issues in functioning of Central Information Commission (CIC) / state information commissioners (SICs).
  • Implementation of provisions regarding proactive disclosures.
  • Best practices from the field.



The proposal should clearly indicate the output that will be delivered at the end of the fellowship, such as: a monograph of 10,000 words which are ready for publication or features /news stories /investigative stories which could be published as a journalistic piece in national /international media; or, in the case of professionals from the field of audio‐video media, it could be short video films or stories.

Click here for more information in PDF format, including details on how to apply.

Date
Source

Email from Urvashi Sharma to The Communication Initiative on December 8 2010.