Welcome to Panos London's archive site

The Panos office in London closed in 2013 after 26 years of working in the field of media and communications for development. During that time we produced a wealth of journalism, information and resources which shed light on underreported issues and gave a voice to many people living in poverty. We also helped to build up a network of Panos offices around the world.

View a visual timeline of our achievements or access the Panos London archive website

Image credit: Borje Tobiasson / Panos Pictures

The Panos network

The six Panos network offices in Paris, West Africa, Eastern and Southern Africa, South Asia and the Caribbean continue their great work in media pluralism, journalism and communication for development.

Read more about the Panos network

"Panos London led the way in highlighting the rapid spread of HIV in Africa and elsewhere in the developing world when few were paying attention. It advocated for the importance of developing-country-led thinking and analysis and in doing so, it played an essential part in changing the way that development is practised."

James Deane, Head of Policy BBC Media Action and a founder of Panos London.

Read James' personal account of Panos London's contribution to communication for development.

"Media in India has always been less than fair to us Dalit women. Unless something destructive happens, we do not count.

Panos London made me feel counted. It has shown me how we can also change mindsets by sharing our stories."

Mary Madiga, Dalit activist and blogger, Andhra Pradesh, India.

Read more about Mary's experience of Panos

Timeline 1986-2013

1986

Panos London established

Improvisation and audacity characterized Panos London. Its founding members begged, borrowed, and called in favours to get the charity off the ground. Initially an environmental organization, it quickly gained a reputation for working on controversial issues such as the rapid escalation of the HIV epidemic in poor countries. Read an account of Panos London's earliest days

1987

'AIDS and the third world'

AIDS and the Third World was Panos's first investigation into the HIV/AIDS epidemic when little was known about its likely impact. Tens of thousands of copies were published in several languages. This groundbreaking study looked at the impact of HIV and AIDS on the world's poorest people. In 1987, the disease was highly stigmatized across both developed and less developed countries. Read an account of the Panos London AIDS programme

1987

Panos features service launched

These in-depth, analytical features were translated into 50 languages, and alerted millions worldwide to the global influence of environmental and social issues. Internationalist in outlook, Panos Features ensured Brazilian journalists were published in Bangladesh, Tanzanians in Barbados, Sri Lankans in Chile, Nigerians in Finland, and Zambians in Indonesia, to name but a few. The service continued until 2004. Read Panos features

Image credit: Trygve Bolstad / Panos Pictures

1990

'Triple Jeopardy - Women and AIDS'

This dossier, published to mark World AIDS Day 1990, marked an important step in the debate around HIV and AIDS. It treated AIDS as much more than a medical issue and raised many of the fundamental questions of equity – between the sexes and between regions of the world – at the heart of the development debate. Read more

Image credit: Chris de Bode / Panos Pictures

1990

'Miracle or menace? Biotech and the third world'

Ahead of its time, this Panos environmental dossier, written by Robert Walgate, spells out the implications of biotechnology for development countries, and asked "in whose interest is it being developed?" Read more

Image credit: Marcus Rose / Panos Pictures

1992

'At the Desert's Edge, Oral testimony from the Sahel'

A collaboration between Panos and SOS Sahel, this book explored the culture, history and environment of the Sahel through the recollections of over 500 men and women who live there. Read the oral testimonies

Image credit: Adrian Adams-Sow / Panos London

1995

'Arms to fight. Arms to protect'

An oral testimony collection featured interviews with women in 12 countries living through the wars of the 1980s and 1990s and their aftermath. Read more

Image credit: Photographer / Panos Pictures

1993

'Listening for a change, Oral Testimony and development'

This book set out the oral testimony approach as pioneered by Panos. Oral testimony recorded the fine details of people's lives using active listening and encouraging the interviewee to dictate the direction of the interview. Its aim was to show planners and politicians what it felt like to be at the sharp end of development. Read 'Listening for a Change'

Image credit: Frederic Courbet / Panos Pictures

1994

'Private decisions, public debate - women, reproduction and population'

Winner of Global Media Award for excellence in journalism, this book was published to coincide with the United Nations Cairo International Conference on Population and Development. Fifteen journalists from Africa, Asia and Latin America reported on subjects as diverse as female genital mutilation, unauthorized sterilizations, untreated STDs, HIV infection and the influence of Catholicism and Islam and how they affect reproductive decision-making. Read more here

Image credit: Jenny Matthews / Panos Pictures

1996

'On the margins: Men who have sex with men and HIV in the developing world'

This taboo-busting dossier produced by Panos and the Norwegian Red Cross tackled a subject which mainstream media was reluctant to tackle and many NGOs were slow to pick up on. Read more

Image credit: William Daniels / Panos Pictures

1997

Panos Pictures is launched

Panos Pictures, which started life as the photographic wing of Panos, was established, in 1997, as a commercial agency by its director Adrian Evans. Pursuing stories beyond the contemporary media agenda, it continues to win awards and plaudits.

panos.co.uk

Image credit: Chris de Bode / Panos Pictures

1996-97

Regional offices opened

In 1996 Panos opened a regional office in Lusaka, Zambia with regional offices in Kathmandu, Nepal and in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia following in 1997. Learn more about the network

1999

'AIDS and men'

This agenda-setting publication examined the relationship between men's actions and HIV and AIDS around the world. Read more

1999

'Giving voice'

Panos published these practical - and still relevant - guidelines for implementing oral testimony projects. Read more

Image credit: Marc French / Panos Pictures

2000

Mountain Voices

A collection of interviews with over 350 people living in mountain and highland regions round the world. For background information, to learn more about participants, and to get access to the full transcripts visit mountainvoices.org

Image credit: Heidi Bradner / Panos Pictures

2000

Interworld radio

Panos and OneWorld.net launched an online content-sharing network, providing free radio programmes, support and advice to other radio professionals worldwide. Radio stations in the global North and South gained access to the voices of people affected by global issues worldwide, while talented radio journalists in developing countries gained training, experience and exposure.

Image credit: Abbie Trayler-Smith / Panos Pictures

2000

'Just a lot of hot air? A close look at the Climate Change Convention'

As this timely briefing recognised, fossil fuels have long been crucial to the debate about wealth and development. It highlighted the issues, concerns, possibilities and dangers of global climate change negotiations. Read more

Image credit: Karla Gachet / Panos Pictures

2003

'Missing the message'

Calling for greater participation and accountability in the fight against HIV by those living with the virus, its message was clearly and widely heard. Read more

Image credit: Peter Barker / Panos Pictures

2006

Panos Eastern Africa

Panos Eastern Africa became the final regional office to gain autonomy.

2007

At the heart of change

Our landmark document set out the importance of communication in achieving international development goals.

2010

Rural voices

IFAD produced their 10-yearly Rural Poverty Report using the expertise of people living in poverty showing how widely Panos's oral testimony method had been embraced.

2013

Our legacy

Visit our blog to read more about our legacy.

Image credit: Chris Stowers / Panos Pictures

What we achieved

1,327 testimonies

gathered by Panos London
from people across 38 countries describing their experience of living through poverty and conflict.

Read oral testimonies

10,000 journalists

trained, supported, mentored and inspired from over 85 different countries.

Read more

26 years

of publishing groundbreaking books and documents.

6 continents

Panos London worked across six continents across more than 85 countries.

Hundreds

of radio programmes produced that were broadcast across the internet, community and national radio stations globally.

Listen to our radio

Published

1,000s

of news and feature articles.

Read our archive

Millions

of readers, viewers and listeners reached across the globe.

Visit our archive

Highlighted projects

Image credit: Jenny Matthews / Panos Pictures

Relay: communicating research

The Relay programme brought researchers and journalists together to improve media coverage of critical development issues in collaboration with Panos Network institutes in Eastern and Southern Africa and South Asia. The project piloted, adapted and consolidated an approach to build the capacity of editors, journalists and researchers to improve uptake of research in collaboration with Panos Network institutes.

Image credit: Piotr Malecki / Panos Pictures

Linking southern journalists with European media

This project nurtured and supported up-and-coming journalists in developing countries – helping them to contribute stories to the media in UK, Spain, Sweden and Poland. Hundreds of articles were published in the UK, Sweden, Spain and Poland on subjects ranging from Delhi’s first female taxi drivers to HIV and children.

Image credit: Rod Harbinson | Panos London

Climate Change Media Partnership

Panos joined forces with Internews and IIED to report from the heart of the international climate negotiations. Journalists from Asia, Asia-Pacific, Africa, the Middle East, the Caribbean and Latin America took part in fellowship programme designed to improve media coverage of climate change issues in developing countries.

Learn more about the Panos network

The Panos Network is a dynamic global partnership of six independent institutes held together by a common mission towards sustainable development and increased pluralism. You can learn more about the network at panos.org