Bridging the development gap

Almost exactly seven years ago - just before Christmas 2002 - I was sitting in a classroom at Wandsworth Prison discussing a new project idea with a small group of prisoners. We were thinking about setting up a radio station inside the prison, complete with a learning facility, with the idea that radio might be an excellent hook for encouraging prisoners to get involved in education for the first time. Setting up a new project takes time, patience and money and we suspected that anything inside a prison would draw heavily on all of these. Sure enough, it was eighteen months later when Radio Wanno was opened by Cherie Booth as a unique new learning and broadcast facility at Wandsworth Prison - and by then we had all come up against the numerous challenges of working inside a prison.the idea being discussed casually over a coffee and the project launch?

What the development of Radio Wanno also demonstrated to us was one of the biggest challenges that any entrepreneurial organisation coming up with bright new ideas has to contend with: who wants to pay for that crucial period of time between - which in the case of Radio Wanno was eighteen months. It's an especially big question for us at Media for Development (MFD), where we're in the business of coming up with fresh ideas of how different media can be used to change people's lives, for the better. And so that's where IJP comes in: our idea was to establish an income-generating arm of MFD that would help cover our project development costs. This bridge between a great idea and it's realisation, means projects can be developed and get off the ground. It's only three years since the launch of IJP and already Naomi and her dynamic team are supporting us in that objective, as well as having their own clearly defined vision of making great films which help other organisations achieve their social objectives.

Things have moved on in a big way at MFD since the launch of Radio Wanno - we've now worked in over 30 prisons around England and next year we'll start new media-based initiatives in other parts of the criminal justice system both here and in the UK, as well as internationally. So if you're reading this as someone who's commissioned a film from IJP or you've been on one of the IJP production teams, thanks for the contribution!

James Greenshields, CEO, Media for Development

To see other projects for which IJP has funded the development, visit the IJP website

Radio Wanno has won 3 Koestler Awards for production, with 79% of it's students going on to achieve NCFE accreditation. "Radio Wanno has educated me in computer and studio skills, it's given me confidence to speak in front of others, but most importantly it has given me a way out of crime' - NCFE graduate