PANOS NETWORK - MISSION & VALUES

ABOUT THE PANOS NETWORK

THE PANOS INSTITUTES WORK TO ENSURE THAT INFORMATION IS EFFECTIVELY USED TO FOSTER PUBLIC DEBATE, PLURALISM AND DEMOCRACY.

Globally and within nations, Panos works with media and other information actors to enable developing countries to shape and communicate their own development agendas through informed public debate.

WE FOCUS ON AMPLIFYING THE VOICES
OF THE POOR AND THE MARGINALISED;
TO FOSTER PUBLIC DEBATE, PLURALISM
AND DEMOCRACY.

OUR VISION

A world where communities build open, democratic and sustainable societies aimed at social justice, within and between countries, with free and diversified information and communication flows, including an independent and plural media.

VALUES AND BELIEFS

Panos is made up of a global network of autonomous institutes bound together through a shared name and shared values and aims. In fulfilling our mission, our work is explicitly informed by a set of core beliefs and values which we commit to:

Panos believes that people most affected by global change – often the most marginalised societies and most marginalised peoples within societies – should help shape and drive such change. To achieve this, more balanced information flows between and within societies on issues that affect the poor are urgently needed.
Panos argues that both freedom and pluralism of information within societies are essential preconditions for sustainable development. It believes in particular that the role of the media is critical in ensuring genuinely democratic public debate.
Panos holds that information is central to change, and that people need and have a right of access to understandable, relevant and unbiased information in order to be able to take informed action and play an active role as citizens in democratic societies.
Panos promotes informed inclusive public debate as an essential ingredient in the effective functioning of democratic societies.
Panos believes in a more equitable world, opposes all forms of discrimination and actively promotes racial and sexual equality.
Panos believes people have a right to information which enables them to make their own minds up about issues according to their own circumstances, values, cultures and beliefs. At the heart of Panos’ editorial philosophy is a determination to provide information which includes a range of perspectives from different sides in debates.
Panos believes that analysis and reporting on developing country issues should principally originate from people in these countries. It is committed to producing content which is principally derived from journalists, experts and others from developing countries.
Panos believes that the process of producing information (such as who produces it, who owns it) is often as important as the information itself.
Panos is committed to excellence in all that it does, and insists on adhering to the highest standards of integrity, accuracy and authority in its information outputs and activities.

TO PROMOTE RECONCILIATION, DEBATE AND MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN NATIONS AND PEOPLES.
Panos actively promotes reconciliation, debate and mutual understanding between nations and peoples.
Panos is entirely independent of any political or religious grouping and from its funding sources and is committed to excellence and innovation in all its activities.

AIMS

The institutes aim in particular to:

Encourage and develop innovative information and communications activities and techniques to enable marginalised groups and communities to play an active role in development debates and to foster more democratic societies.
Stimulate and inform public and policy debate, and to provide authoritative, accessible information on key development and environment issues.
Support the development of a genuinely plural media, and to contribute to the creation of legal and regulatory environments which nurture development of free, democratic and plural media.
Provide support and encouragement for both mainstream and alternative media in covering issues of most concern to the poor and marginalised.
Increase the capacities of media, NGOs and other civil society organisations in developing countries to analyse key environment and development issues for themselves, and to subject national and international policy to a more rigorous, informed and constructive analysis.
Enable other information actors to communicate the results of this analysis to a wide public, especially via radio and the vernacular press.

TO HELP ARTICULATING MORE EFFECTIVELY THE ASPIRATIONS OF THE PEOPLE, IN ORDER TO PARTICIPATE IN THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESSES.
Develop with NGOs and media mechanisms for communicating more effectively the aspirations and perceptions of people outside the political elites, and to inject these ideas into national and regional decision-making processes.
Research and work to strengthen the presence of women in the media/communications fields, with particular emphasis on development and environment communication.
Provide information channels for South-South and South-North communications.

PANOS CARIBBEAN	PANOS WEST AFRICA	PANOS SOUTH ASIA
Established in the late 1980s, the mission of PANOS CARIBBEAN is to promote sustainable development and social justice in the Wider Caribbean, especially empowering the poor and vulnerable, to share information and articulate their own perspectives on development issues, broadcasting them across language and political borders. Panos Caribbean specialises in children and youth media, public health and environment, with a special focus on gender. Panos Caribbean works in English, French, Kreyol and Spanish.	PANOS INSTITUTE WEST AFRICA (IPAO/PIWA) is an international non-governmental, independent, secular organization, founded in 2000 on the footseps of a program initiated in 1988. The mission of PIWA is to build a democratic sphere of communication for change and social justice in Africa. PIWA runs four thematic programmes on media pluralism, diversity and peace, democratic governance, and globalization.	PANOS SOUTH ASIA was founded in 1997, with the aim of creating a more vibrant and inclusive media, and a smithy to forge and shape new ideas and policies to make a more equal world. PSA works closely with journalists and the media, offering a range of fellowships, organising workshops and seminars, and producing resources such as the 'Understanding WTO' toolkit. Strengths include innovative work on conflict, bringing together editors and journalists from conflict-affected regions, as well as publications and research communication on environmental, public health and media pluralism.
PANOS SOUTHERN AFRICA		PANOS GREAT LAKES
Since 1996, PANOS SOUTHERN AFRICA has relentlessly devoted itself to cultivating an environment enabling the marginalised to actively participate in inclusive debate and decision-making processes. PSAf works with the too often unheard women, men and youths, helping them to drive their own agendas and influence policies and programmes. This includes working on issues such as HIV/AIDS, natural resource management, governance, poverty, economics, globalisation and international trade. PSAf methodological strengths include oral testimonies and working with rural radio listening clubs.		PANOS INSTITUTE GREAT LAKES (IPGL/PIGL), founded in 2014, is headquartered in Bujumbura and serves the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda and Burundi region. Its mission includes promoting media plurality and the access to an independent, diverse and responsible press in the Great Lakes area. Among its stategies, PIGL works actively at building a legal framework that protects the freedom of the press. PIGL also works on themes such as public health/HIV, media pluralism, governance, as well as peace & conflicts.

MISSION & VALUES

ABOUT PANOS