WAN-Ifra’s Media Professionals programme for mid-level managers in Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam got underway after the IfraIndia conference in Pune last month.

Nine participants met in Pune for the start of an intensive four-month programme which includes individual career coaching, leadership skills development, national and international networking, as well as peer mentoring.

In parallel, WAN-Ifra recently launched a similar programme in the Middle East and North Africa, while the programme for women in southern Africa for the past three years has already led to promotions for more than half of the participants.



“We are now working with future media leaders from several countries, which will have an impact on how the media in those countries evolve both in the short and the long-term,” says strategic advisor Kajsa Törnroth. “We are particularly excited to have new countries like Cambodia and Myanmar join our activities.

“To be able to help media development in Myanmar was unthinkable just a few months ago, and this new opportunity shows how things can quickly change for the better.”



One of the participants, Khin Thandar Htay, who is national sales director at Myanmar Consolidated Media, says the programme provides essential knowledge which is lacking in Myanmar, in particular through the leadership skills development and the career coaching.

“Moreover, as our country is starting to open up and restrictions on the media are removed, we need to learn from international, well-experienced media. The programme is providing us with that opportunity.”



The WAN-Ifra Media Professionals Programmes provide mid-level media professionals from the commercial and editorial side of newspapers and online media with personalised, high-impact leadership development opportunities. It aims to equip them with sustainable strategies, skills and support networks to advance their careers and contribute to the growth of financially viable and editorially strong media enterprises in the region. 



The initiative is part of a strategic partnership with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency to advance media development and press freedom worldwide.

More on the projects and the partnership can be found at http://www.wan-ifra.org/microsites/media-development