Health action with informed and engaged societies
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 lainiciativadecomunicacion.com and is linked with The CI Global site.
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Early Childhood Endowment Fund - Fondo PI

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This fund is an initiative to promote investment in early childhood in Colombia. The longterm investment plan allows private investors and donors to generate investment opportunities in early childhood development (ECD) within the framework of public policy and capitalises on the experience and lessons learned by civil society.

Communication Strategies
  • Care for pregnant women: programmes to improve medical attention for women, with participation by the community and in coordination with the health care system, including education for mothers and their families in order to ensure self-care during pregnancy, one of the determinant phases in the development of the future girl or boy. The objective is to integrate development and early stimulation programmes with education for parents in prenatal care, early health care, nutrition, and early care.
  • Strengthening preschool education and the quality of transitions: this initiative seeks to guarantee access to quality early education for at least the first two years of life (before entering basic primary school) as a key element for the development of children. The PI Fund supports programmes that investigate and provide teacher training for teachers and caregivers, programmes to create tools to ensure timely cognitive and affective stimulation, and improvements in the physical infrastructure and tools at preschool centres, with an emphasis on providing the appropriate paedagogical materials.
  • Prevention, detection, and management of situations of exclusion: early detection and management of situations that can become factors for exclusion (for example, sexual abuse, abuse, and mild disabilities). The PI Fund supports programmes for training/educating teachers and parents on prevention, detection, and management of these situations, with the objective of reducing the social costs.
Development Issues

Early childhood, education, rights.

Key Points

PI Fund resources come from contributions from the Environmental and Childhood Action Fund, foundations, and private companies. Resources are administered by UBS Financial Services, a global investment portfolio manager. The annual returns generated by the fund are deposited in an expiring fund and are used to leverage the contributions of private companies, foundations, and other donors. This total is then invested in programmes and projects directed towards young children. Business people can invest either as donors or as strategic programme associates.

Partners

The initiative was created in 2007 by the Fondo para la Acción Ambiental y la Niñez (Environmental and Childhood Action Fund) with the backing of the Instituto Colombiano de Bien Estar Familiar (The Colombian Family Well Being Institute), the National Planning Department, the National Ministry of Education, private foundations, and development agencies.