Paddy Coulter

Paddy Coulter is a specialist in media and development with over 25 years professional experience of communications. Current communications projects include the Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI) of Oxford University’s Department of International Development; the Creative Responses to Sustainability (CERES21) initiative of Oslo University’s Centre for Development and the Environment; and the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI).
Paddy’s media and development expertise covers the separate - if related - areas of communications for development (primarily, though not exclusively, in the countries of the industrialised world) and of the development of media within developing countries. Paddy combines a lengthy professional experience of media production with an extensive involvement in leading international development bodies. He has acquired a wide knowledge of media around the world, particularly the emerging world.

Paddy produced more than 100 television programmes on global issues for leading broadcasters during his thirteen years with the International Broadcasting Trust (where he was Director, 1990/2001) and published a series of research reports on trends in coverage of international affairs. He also has a background in journalism training, having organised over 500 media workshops and conferences in his six year Directorship of the Reuters Journalism Fellowship Programme at Oxford (2001/7) and on-going workshops for the Environmental Change Institute at Oxford.

Paddy’s recent assignments have been for:

• the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) revamping their communications strategy aidtransparency.net
• the British Council Climate Change Programme evaluating their Chinese media training activities britishcouncil.org.cn/climatecool/en/media.html
• the UK Department for International Development (DFID) conducting an evaluation of media work to build support for development  dfid.gov.uk/Documents/consultations/bsdreview/bsd-media-rpt-0709.pdf
• the Wincott Foundation coordinating a new economic journalism pilot project in Kenya with African partners wincott.co.uk
• the Thomson Foundation carrying out a scoping exercise to develop a new media development strategy thomsonfoundation.org
• Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) moderating the Aid Harmonisation Roundtable at the Accra High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Ghana undg.org
• Concern Worldwide advising on a new communications strategy concern.net

Previous posts have been:

• Director of Studies at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University where he directed the international journalist fellowship programme between 2001 and 2007, running seminars, workshops and conferences at Oxford and elsewhere on key journalism themes of press freedom, journalist ethics, media regulation, impact of new media technology, media coverage of climate change etc
• Director of the independent television production company, the International Broadcasting Trust (IBT) between 1990 and 2001 (and its Deputy Director 1987 to 1990). He received the Gold Award of the United Nations Correspondents Association in New York in 1996 for the IBT television documentary series Under the Blue Flag and three years later the One World Award in London for the observational documentary series filmed inside the World Bank, The Bank, the President and the Pearl of Africa. In 2000 Paddy was given the award of OBE by Her Majesty’s Government for “services to development awareness”.

Paddy is a founder trustee of The Media Trust which was set up in 1994 to act as a bridge between the media industry and the UK voluntary sector. In 2000 the Media Trust successfully launched a new digital television channel, The Community Channel, dedicated to the voluntary sector. From 1999 to 2008 he was a board member - and from 2002 Chair - of the non-profit Broadcasting Support Services (BSS) which provides specialist helplines and other back-up information services to broadcasters and other public interest bodies.

Paddy has had a long association with Oxfam, originally in field development work in Ethiopia and Yemen in the early 1970s, then between 1982 and 1987 as Head of Media at Oxfam where he was responsible for the agency’s communications strategy, and later in the 1990s as an Oxfam Trustee. He has also had a lengthy association with UNICEF-UK where he is currently on the Board of Directors for UNICEF UK Enterprises. He is also on the board of the African social justice network, Fahamu, which publishes Pambazuka News.

Paddy Coulter is an Honorary Visiting Fellow of Green Templeton College, University of Oxford and a Senior Associate of St Antony’s College as well as an Associate Fellow at the university’s Environmental Change Institute (ECI). He is also a Visiting Fellow at the University of Bournemouth’s Media School and was an Advisory Board member of the University of Bath’s Wellbeing in Developing Countries ESRC Research group.

Current work

• Working on the communications strategy for the Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI) within Oxford University’s Department of International Development ophi.org
• Carrying out international media research for the Creative Responses to Sustainability (CERES21) initiative of Oslo University’s Centre for Development and the Environment ceres21.org
• Project coordinating for the Wincott Foundation with the African Economic Research Consortium and the Thomson Foundation on their joint African economic journalism initiative, Africa Means Business wincott.co.uk