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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Quick Links #3: Working with Religious Leaders

1 comment

Below you'll find a brief list of just some of the polio communication resources related to working with religious leaders from The Communication Initiative for Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Hi Everyone

This Quick Links focusses on work with religious leaders.  The three resources below provide a case study for building relationships with religious leaders where trust is lacking, the importance of religious leadership for building community ownership and an Islamic faith based manual for working in conflict zones.  I hope some of you find them useful.  Please note the links for more information and instructions to unsubscribe or subscribe found below.

From Intense Rejection to Advocacy: How Muslim Clerics Were Engaged in a Polio Eradication Initiative in Northern Nigeria

This paper looks in some detail at how working with religious leaders was first piloted and then expanded in Nigeria.  It looks at impact as well as how religious leaders were engaged alongside other influential people such as polio survivors, teachers, and physicians.

Eradicating Polio: Working with Religious Leaders to Enhance Community Ownership

This UNICEF document from India documents the value of working with religious leaders to bolster community support for polio vaccination.  It also underscores the importance of identifying the specific issues that such an influential group can address and provides practical examples of the engagement and trust building that was critical to gaining their active support.

Working in Conflict: A Faith Based Toolkit for Islamic Relief

This is a guide developed for use by staff of Islamic Relief though it has been written to also be of use for other agencies whether they be Islamic, based in another faith, or secular.  This resource offers practical information for working with Islamic communities in conflict-affected environments.

To unsubscribe please send an email to cmorry@comminit.com with ‘unsubscribe quick links’ in the subject.  To subscribe do the same with ‘subscribe quick links’ in the subject.

Cheers

Chris

For more information see:

CI Polio Network

GPEI Resources

UNICEFs Rhizome C4D site

A note on Quick Links: 

Quick Links is a small experiment from The Communication Initiative that might help those working for polio eradication in Pakistan and Afghanistan identify useful knowledge on issues the programme is facing.  It is designed to be brief and not add too much to anyone's inbox.  Each email focuses on an area of particular importance to the Pakistan and Afghanistan programmes and presents brief descriptions of three resources that may be of interest or use to those of you working in the country.  The mailing list, by design, is quite small though anyone who's interested can send a request to cmorry@comminit.comand they'll be added to the list.  We also welcome suggestions and requests for specific topics to be covered and/or resources to be identified.

Comments

Submitted by cmorry on Thu, 07/11/2019 - 14:29 Permalink

Here are a few comments on the working with religious leaders Quick Links.  They were received as personal emails and have been rendered anonymous for that reason.

Please note that the orgnisations mentioned have been included only to identify the affiliation and location of the  individual responding and do not represent the views of the organisations themselves.

Thanks Chris - I find these helpful. And I like the name, by the way - (forgot to mention that the other day). 

Suggestion: perhaps numbering the quick links? (quick links #4: data) - may help us find them in our inboxes, and help you keep track of how many you've sent.  And perhaps an upcoming "Quick links" #XX: "Suggestions from eradicators" (websites we like/find helpful, books/articles we found impactful...)

UNICEF New York

Dear Chris

Thanking you for sharing the valuable links, very useful

UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia

Dear Chris

Thanks for sharing all this info related to C4D/communication. 

Would like to inform that a new member has recently joined our team in Kabul. Thanks to add that name to your mailing list.

Regards

UNICEF Afghanistan