Social Norms
Social norms action with informed and engaged societies
Social Norms
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.
 
Co-founder Victoria Martin is pleased to see this work continue under Wits' leadership. Victoria knows that co-founder Warren Feek (1953–2024) would have felt deep pride in The CI Global's Africa-led direction.
 
We honour the team and partners who sustained The CI for decades. Meanwhile, La Iniciativa de Comunicación (CILA) continues independently at cila.comminitcila.com and is linked with The CI Global site.
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Scientists Without Borders

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This initiative aims to mobilise and coordinate science-based efforts to improve the quality of life in the developing world. As a first step, it has created a web portal. Launched on May 12 2008 by the New York Academy of Sciences in concert with a global network of organisational partners, the Scientists Without Borders website is designed to foster communication and collaboration amongst organisations, projects, and researchers who are facilitating global health, agricultural progress, environmental well-being, energy solutions, and poverty alleviation - and those who would like to contribute to such endeavours.
Communication Strategies

Scientists Without Borders has created an online database that consolidates and centralises key information about individuals, projects, and organisations that work or would like to work in the developing world. This tool will enable institutions and individual researchers to register key information about themselves, and to find out who is doing what and where it is being done. For example, a sub-Saharan African university that wants to bolster its microbiology curriculum may be able to locate individuals anywhere in the world who are willing and qualified to teach microbiology for 8 weeks in the summer. Or an organisation that is delivering vaccines (or mosquito nets or any component of health care) to a particular community could use this database to find a collaborating agency that could create a safe drinking water supply for that same community. After logging on to this portal, one may apply to join this central information repository (the portal also includes a section that will house educational articles; eventually, the site will provide community-building tools).

Development Issues

Health, HIV/AIDS, Environment, Natural Resource Management, Economic Development.

Partners

The New York Academy of Science, Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa, the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World, the Earth Institute, the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, the Pasteur Institute, Duke University Health System, the African Centre for Technology Studies, Health Sciences Online, SciDevNet, the University of Ghana, INDEPTH Network, Seeding Labs, the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), the Sabin Vaccine Institute, Universities Allied for Essential Medicines, the Science Initiative Group, the Information Training and Outreach Centre for Africa, the International Foundation for Science, the Nigeria Higher Education Foundation, the American Society for Cell Biology, the Partnership for Quality Medical Donations, Sustainable Sciences Institute, and BioMed Central.

Sources

Email from Evelyn Strauss to The Communication Initiative on February 25 2008 and June 4 2008; and Scientists Without Borders website.

Comments

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Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 07/01/2008 - 08:48 Permalink

The portal is great...i think i am going to learn a lot from it.
Blessing chataira32@hotmail.com