imedia associates

Country experience

Admin — Sat, 29 May 2010 07:45:53 +0000

Over the past 10 years iMedia and its Directors have worked in more than 25 countries; our two focal regions are South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

History

NHarford — Fri, 28 May 2010 09:48:20 +0000

iMedia Associates Ltd is a subsidiary company of Media Support Solutions, which has nine years of experience of working in fields as varied as HIV/AIDS communication, distance education, peace-building and small business development – all through media interventions. Media Support Solutions has managed long term media projects in Botswana, Zambia, Mozambique and Afghanistan, with the aim of creating successful non-profit communications companies to carry on the work independently. This has been achieved in Botswana, and is ongoing in Zambia and Afghanistan.

iMedia in action

NHarford — Thu, 27 May 2010 12:23:50 +0000

iMedia advises clients on communications approaches to help solve complex problems, as well as managing and evaluating media-led projects. Recent work has included developing communications strategies to combat violent extremism in Pakistan and Afghanistan, promoting HIV/AIDS social and behaviour change in southern Africa, and strengthening the media’s role in electoral reform in Nigeria.

In the UK iMedia has worked with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on using a range of media to facilitate international engagement on Afghanistan’s future. iMedia also advises local government on community-based communication to counter ethnic extremism. In addition, iMedia conducts workshops on media and peace-building, most recently in Belfast for the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.

iMedia clients include UK government departments, bilateral and multilateral donor agencies, and non-governmental organisations.

Knowledge

Admin — Wed, 19 May 2010 19:39:28 +0000

iMedia Directors and Associates have generated a wide range of publications including multi-media products, reports and articles relating to current projects and those written independently or during assignments with Media Support and iMediate.

Julia Russell

Admin — Tue, 18 May 2010 20:03:02 +0000

Julia Russell (Administrator) has worked for Media Support Solutions as Administrator, Bookkeeper and Web Manager since its inception in 2001. Her small publishing company, The Electronic Cottage, produced and distributed two publications by Gordon Adam and Nicola Harford — Health on Air and Radio and HIV/AIDS: Making a Difference - the latter in three languages.

Julia has worked for over forty years in more administrative jobs than she cares to remember. She has twenty-five years experience in learning, using and teaching Information Communication Technology (ICT). She was one of the first people in the Highlands to study ICT remotely, using a dial-up modem and she has trained primary school teachers and children in basic computer skills. She is kept up-to-date with the latest technology not only through her variety of jobs, but also by her sons who are software developers. julia@imediaassociates.org

Nicola Harford

Admin — Tue, 18 May 2010 20:02:27 +0000

Nicola Harford, Director, is a development communications specialist and long term associate of Media Support. Based in Zimbabwe, she has over 15 years experience of planning, managing and evaluating media projects in support of HIV/AIDS, health, governance, agriculture and rural development sector goals. Nicola provides long and short-term technical assistance to clients throughout sub-Saharan Africa, and occasionally in South/South East Asia, supporting capacity-building of local staff and institutions. She has significant expertise in applying behavioural science and research to creative media products for youth audiences, with a focus on radio interventions. She recently managed behaviour change communications projects in Mozambique and Zambia on behalf of Media Support. Her publications include peer-reviewed articles and several practitioner handbooks on communications.

Nick Fielding

Admin — Tue, 18 May 2010 20:01:54 +0000

Nick Fielding, Director and co-founder of iMedia, also comes from the media consulting group, iMediate and is a recognised expert on extremist communication. He was a senior reporter on The Sunday Times and covered the aftermath and implications of the 9/11 attacks, reporting from Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Far East. He has also worked for the Mail on Sunday and the Independent and continues to write for the national press in Britain, including The Guardian, Sunday Times and The Daily Telegraph. He has worked as an associate editor on a TV documentary and wrote the website material for the BBC series Tribe, starring Bruce Parry. He has conducted consultancy assignments for risk analysis companies, and for the UK government. Recently he produced a report on New Media in Afghanistan and was extensively involved in a major study of the media in Pakistan and the way it is used by jihadi organizations.

Nick writes a blog Circling the Lion’s Den (http://circlingthelionsden.blogspot.com), which concentrates on Afghanistan and Pakistan and has authored two books. Masterminds of Terror (2003) examined in detail the planning for the 9/11 attacks and has become the standard reference work on how the operation was carried out. It has since been translated into seven languages. His first book was Defending the Realm: Inside MI5 and the War on Terrorism, published in three editions. nick@imediaassociates.org

Emrys Schoemaker

Admin — Tue, 18 May 2010 20:01:04 +0000

Emrys Schoemaker is Director and co-founder of iMedia Associates, formerly an independent consultant and director of iMediate. He is a communications and conflict specialist with extensive experience designing communications and media based initiatives for development and peace-building purposes. He has a particular interest in the ways that social media and mobile phones are transforming people’s lives and the implications for changing citizen-state relations and political processes. He gained a Masters in Peace Studies at Bradford University, then spent two years in Pakistan in 2004 — 2006 as a media advisor for DFID, the UN and civil society organisations where he designed, managed and advised on media and communication in the areas of governance, conflict and health, particularly HIV and AIDS. He has recently conducted consultancies in Pakistan and Afghanistan exploring strategies for counter extremism. Emrys blogs on media and communication at www.eschoemaker.wordpress.com. emrys@imediaassociates.org

Gordon Adam

Admin — Tue, 18 May 2010 20:00:25 +0000

Gordon Adam is Director and co-founder of iMedia and is also Managing Director of Media Support Solutions. He has managed media development initiatives in multiple countries in Asia and Africa, as well as projects using media and interpersonal communications in support of health, development and democracy aims. Gordon has provided capacity-building and supervision to the establishment of local media organisations in Botswana, Afghanistan, Guyana and Zambia. He writes and lectures widely on media and communications for development and democracy, and is a leading proponent of audience-focused communication for peace-building and conflict resolution. Gordon’s background is journalism, working in the BBC for almost 20 years until 1996, including eight years as head of the BBC Pashto Service. During this time he created a three times weekly educational radio soap opera for Afghanistan, produced in Pakistan, which marked its 15th anniversary on air in April 2009. gordon@imediaassociates.org

UK Politics

Admin — Tue, 18 May 2010 19:56:07 +0000

In April iMedia Director Gordon Adam attended the International Development hustings in Glasgow in the run up to the UK elections and spoke to the shadow International Development secretaries, Andrew Mitchell (Conservative) and John Barrett (Liberal Democrat) about the potential for the media and communications to be better supported for development and democracy objectives.