This issue of The Drum Beat highlights The CI's most recent sustainability endeavour - the CI Associates process - and invites you - valued members of The CI Network - to join in supporting The CI/Drum Beat to continue connecting you across all development issues and all types of communication and media processes for more effective development action.

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WHY CI ASSOCIATES? SUPPORTING A PUBLIC GOOD

A Note from Warren, The CI's Executive Director:

The Communication Initiative is honoured to support your important work and we thank you for subscribing to The Drum Beat and being part of this community of practice of people committed to effectively addressing the full range of local, national, regional, and global development issues.

In this new world, we all need to explore new ways of financially supporting our work. At present, The CI's growing network of 75,000-plus people from thousands of organisations all over the world with 35,000-plus knowledge summaries and almost 3 million individual visitor sessions per annum is supported by 28 CI Partners.

Use is made of The CI process by over 5,000 organisations per annum - from major funders to small local organisations in economically impoverished locales. Staff and others from those agencies submit knowledge for sharing with the network; access knowledge in support of their work; identify and make contact with people and organisations that they identify as being able to support their work; and express, share, and debate their views and opinions on a range of development challenges. That use is growing significantly. Essentially, The CI has become a global "public good" based on the level of sharing and learning that has been achieved through The CI processes. Perhaps you have recently made use of this community of practice yourself.

The Associates process is designed to enable organisations and offices that recognise the value of The CI/Drum Beat process to their work to provide a small level of financial support for that process - from USD 100 for very small organisations to USD 5,000 for the larger ones. We've tried to make the amount the equivalent of sending a staff member to a training event or conference, producing a small publication, researching an issue, etc.; these trip- and research-related processes are parallel to the connections made through The CI and Drum Beat online (and you get to stay home and keep working!). For further Associates details and payment process click here.

I want to thank The CI Partners, who will continue to bear the great majority of the revenue load on behalf of everyone in The CI network. And I also want to thank the initial group of CI Associates listed below - the three most recent were Africa Free Media Trust, World Association for Christian Communication (WACC), and World Health Communication Associates (WHCA) - we are delighted and humbled that you have taken this step which is vitally important for us.

If you do value The CI processes for your work - and you can see a way in your present budget lines of your office or programme - e.g., training, publications, capacity building, communication, etc. - to provide this small level of financial support, that would be excellent.

Thank you for considering this. The more we can share the financial load of The CI/Drum Beat process across a larger number of organisations and offices using this process, the greater our chance of maintaining and growing - in all sorts of exciting ways - this open-to-all, 24-hour-per-day, comprehensive sharing and engagement process.

A lot of small contributions from a lot of offices and organisations will go a long way. Please do take a look at more information - click here. You can either complete the online process by clicking here or simply drop me an email indicating your interest and your intended contribution at wfeek@comminit.com

Thanks and much support for your vitally important work.

Warren Feek

Executive Director The Communication Initiative

wfeek@comminit.com

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CURRENT CI ASSOCIATES

Africa Free Media Trust - Kenya

Applied Sciences Branch, Division of Reproductive Health, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - United States/International

Bright Media - South Africa

Centre for AIDS Development, Research and Evaluation (CADRE) - South Africa/Southern Africa

Commonwealth of Learning - Canada/International

Communication and Development Studies, Ohio University - United States 

Communication and Information Sector of UNESCO (UNESCO-CI) - France/International

Connecting Cultures - Canada

Dr Veronica Baxter - Applied Theatre/Drama Practitioner - International

Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Buea - Cameroon

Health Communication Resources Inc. - Australia/South Pacific/South East and East Asia

Healthy Aboriginal Network - Canada 

United Kingdom/International

Institute of Development Studies - United Kingdom/International 

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) - Canada/International 

Joanne Edgar - Communication Consultant - International

Media Project Southern Africa of the Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation - Namibia/Southern Africa

Nupef - Brazil

Search for Common Ground - International 

Stop TB and HIV/AIDS-The Gambia

Strategies for Hope Trust - United Kingdom/Africa/International

Theatre for a Change - Malawi

UNICEF Office - Sao Tome and Principe

Winthrop Morgan and Associates (winthropmorgan) - United States/International

Women's Arts Institute Africa (wAi Africa) - Ghana

World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) - UK/Canada/International

World Health Communication Associates (WHCA) - UK/International

Click here for the full list of CI Associates.

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HOW TO BECOME AN ASSOCIATE

CI Associates is a level of financial support for the work of The CI that was launched in 2008. It seeks to share the revenue load across a broader group of agencies whose staff and partner organisations benefit from utilising The CI process. The suggested Associate payment levels are significantly lower than the present and continuing investment by The CI Partners.

The suggested payment levels for CI Associates are:

Annual Contributions

USD 5,000 per office - For Country, Regional, and HQ offices of major international development organisations

USD 2,500 per office - For Country, Regional, and HQ offices for medium-sized international NGOs

USD 2,000 per department - University Departments - OECD Countries

USD 750 per department - University Departments - All other Countries

USD 100 - Small, Local NGOs/CBOs

USD 100 to 200 - Individual

OR...enter your own Associates payment level.

Become a CI Associate - Click here to fill in the online form OR contact Warren Feek at wfeek@comminit.com to indicate your interest and intended contribution.

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The Editor of The Drum Beat is Kier Olsen DeVries.

Please send material for The Drum Beat to The CI's Editorial Director - Deborah Heimann dheimann@comminit.com

The Drum Beat seeks to cover the full range of communication for development activities. Inclusion of an item does not imply endorsement or support by The Partners.

To reproduce any portion of The Drum Beat, click here for our policy.

To subscribe, click here.