John Mukela | a unique organisation

My first contact with Panos happened in a round about way. I was a young freelance journalist in London and the year was 1981. A year earlier I had decided to quit my job as a sports reporter on the Zambia Daily Mail, and moved to London where I believed I would hit the ‘big time’ as an international journalist.

Instead, I was humbled by the prospect of just managing to survive with the odd freelance piece here and there. I needed a full time job and one day saw an advert from an organisation called Earthscan – they were looking to recruit an editor.

Earthscan was an information and news organisation in London with a focus on development and environmental issues. I didn't get the job. But I kept in contact with Earthscan's director, Jon Tinker.

In 1986 Jon headed the group that established Panos, and invited me to contribute a chapter to a book of case studies as part of an international conference on environment and development held in Saltsjöbaden, Sweden. This was the start of a long and close association with Panos.

I’m particularly proud to have been involved in the Gemini News Service which, for many years, was at the forefront of reporting from places where most international journalists didn't go. Its coverage of events ran counter to the mainstream diet being fed by the big global news outlets, often employing local correspondents with an alternative take on events.

Back in Zambia, a decade later, I was one of two signatories to the registration documents establishing Panos Southern Africa - so you could perhaps say that I am one of its principal founders. I have subsequently served on the institute’s advisory committee, and was elected chair of Panos Southern Africa in 2005.

I believe that Panos is important because it provides a service that is unquestionably unique. It focuses on development issues which would otherwise be sidelined and ignored, but that are becoming increasingly important.

For example, without the lobbying that is inherent in much of the work that Panos does, such landmark breakthroughs as the recent debt relief by the World Bank and IMF to many poor countries in Africa could not have been possible.

The Panos international network of sister organisations and contacts are key to keeping it afloat. I’m confident that Panos will continue to survive well into the future because its work really does make a difference.