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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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[WEBINAR] Maintaining momentum in family planning: How can social and behavior change programs adapt to the new reality of COVID-19?

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April 23, 2020

8:00 a.m.–9:15 a.m. EDT / 12:00 p.m.–1:15 p.m. GMT

REGISTER TO ATTEND:

COVID-19 is already impacting the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) of women and girls around the world through disruptions to supply chains, reductions in service availability, and changes to individual, household, and community-level behaviors. Not only are these effects likely to grow in the coming weeks and months, but we are facing a long-term crisis if we don’t act now to meet the SRH needs of women and girls. More than ever, the role of social and behavior change (SBC) is essential in supporting access to life-saving contraceptives and reproductive health services and empowering individuals with options to engage in self-care for family planning. However, SBC implementers active in this field need to find new ways to engage communities under lock-down, identify specific needs of subpopulations such as youth, and adapt messaging in response to shifting access to SRH services.

This webinar will review the impact of COVID-19 on SRH, consider how the changing commodity and supply context will impact demand generation work, present new, actionable guidance for SBC implementers on adapting approaches and messaging, and discuss how SBC organizations can respond to youth needs. We are learning together as each day unfolds and welcome you to join this discussion so that we can collectively find the best way forward.

The webinar will be in English, with simultaneous translation into French.

Moderator: 

- Lynn Van Lith, Technical Director, Breakthrough ACTION (Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs)

Featured Speakers:

- Beth Schlachter, Executive Director, FP2020

- John Skibiak, Director, Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition

- Joanna Skinner, Family Planning Technical Lead, Breakthrough ACTION (Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs)

- Manasa Priya Vasudevan, Program Manager, Know Your Body, Know Your Rights Program (The YP Foundation)

REGISTER TO ATTEND: