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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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MDIF Launches Private Equity Impact Fund for Independent Media

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"...democratization, economic uplift, and independent media form a virtuous circle of development, accountability and growth." - Harlan Mandel, CEO of MDIF

In many countries, media companies are only able to raise capital from politically compromised sources, which puts editorial independence at risk. This is a concern for the Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF), which provides equity and debt financing to news and information companies in countries where access to independent media is under threat. This press release announces the launch of MDIF's Emerging Media Opportunity Fund I (EMOF), a private equity fund for independent media operating in restrictive environments.

Early deals include investments in Indian digital news publisher Scroll.in, Indonesia's data-driven business and finance news publisher Katadata, and Colab, a Brazilian platform where citizens can hold local governments accountable.

MDIF's earnings through carried interest are 100% conditioned on meeting a range of mission-aligned indicators, including the level of media freedom in the country at the time of investment, the practical impact of investee news and information throughout the investment, and a mission-aligned exit.

International investors in EMOF include Stichting DOEN, Open Society Foundations (Soros Economic Development Fund), IFU (Denmark's Investment Fund for Developing Countries), and co-investor JP Politiken Hus, in addition to MDIF.

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Click here to read the press release.
Source

Email from MDIF to The Communication Initiative on February 12 2019. © Errki Mervaala 300