Community Media/ICT4D JAMAICA/Draft Curriculum Media Training Workshop Jeffrey Town/Profiles of Facilitators

Valerie Gordon

E-mail: gordon.valerie@gmail.com

A development specialist and project management professional with over 20 years experience, Valerie Gordon has been involved in ICT for development issues since 1998. At that time, with support from the UNDP, she facilitated the establishment of the Jamaica Sustainable Development Network (JSDN) as a not for profit NGO, and continued to manage the entity until 2005.

She continues to be involved with the JSDN as advisor and consultant. She is also a Board Director, and Chair person for Community Development and Egovernance in ICT4D Jamaica, another NGO involved with increasing awareness and knowledge sharing on ICTs in various development sectors. She has participated in regional projects including the IDRC supported CARISNET 1, for which JSDN was project leader; the Caribbean telecenters project (for which she prepared a regional survey of telecenters), and has represented Latin American and the Caribbean on the ICANN Non Commercial Users Committee (NCUC). She is an alumni of the Diplo Foundation Internet Governance programme and continues to be active in various discussions lists on governance issues related to the Internet.

She has undertaken ICT4D related consultancies for agencies such as UNDP, UNESCO, and the International Institute for Communication and development (IICD), and is currently involved with the Commonwealth of Learning is developing community media for learning in a rural Jamaica community; the Japanese sponsored Literacy and Numeracy project using ICTs in low income communities; and the regional CARISNET 2 project to continue to support the CIVIC- the Caribbean ICT4D stakeholder community.

Rosamond Brown --- E-mail: brownrosamond@yahoo.com

Rosamond Brown is a Media Practitioner with over twenty years experience in public, commercial and community radio. She started her broadcast career as a Production Assistant at the Jamaica Information Service before moving into on-air work as a disc-jockey and eventually Station Supervisor of the urban contemporary FAME FM. In 2001 Rosamond spearheaded the successful start-up of KOOL 97 FM, an adult contemporary commercial station which currently enjoys high recognition and respect in the Jamaican media landscape.

In 2004, Ms Brown was appointed General Manager of ROOTS FM, the largest urban community station in the Caribbean. Since then her achievements include: developing the successful Volunteer/Intern programme (an extensive 6-week media training workshop for talented inner city residents who would otherwise not have access to media); co-development of the UNESCO/Caribbean Internet Radio Portal (an on-line regional network of community multimedia centres) and co-development of the community media on-line certificate course – University of the West Indies Distance Education. Her current projects include an urban greening programme teaching inner-city residents how to plant and sustain container vegetable gardens and developing sustainable funding mechanisms for non-profit radio.

Much of Rosamond’s work involves training in voice and speech delivery and radio production techniques. She hosts a weekly music show on Nationwide radio and contributes a weekly column to the Sunday Observer Literary Arts Magazine. Rosamond Brown is a graduate of the University of the West Indies and has represented the Caribbean community radio network at several international conferences.

Patrick W. Prendergast

Email: prendergast.patrickw@gmail.com

Patrick Prendergast is Assistant Lecturer in Development Communication at the Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication (CARIMAC), University of the West Indies, Mona with teaching responsibilities in Social Marketing Theory, Alternative Media and Community-based Initiatives, Media Gender and Development, and Communication Analysis and Planning.

Prendergast holds a Diploma with distinction in Television Production, a first class honours Bachelor of Arts degree in Media and Communication – specializing in Social Marketing, and a Master of Arts degree in Communication for Social and Behaviour Change – all from UWI.

Patrick is also a graduate of the Jamaica National School of Drama where he majored in Theatre Arts (Directing) and Community Drama and was the 1987 recipient of the Karl Dalhouse Award in Community Drama for his work with the Gun Court Cultural group as a student at JSD.

Between 1987 and 1993 he worked with the popular-theatre NGO, Groundwork Theatre Company, as a theatre artiste and community animator, developing and facilitating workshops and seminars in youth and community empowerment and theatre in education for high schools and teachers’ colleges in Jamaica, the Caribbean, North America, and Europe. During this period he also conceptualized and facilitated a popular theatre/education training programme for the National STD-HIV/AIDS Prevention Programme in Montego Bay, Jamaica and in the late 1990s was Male Programme Officer on the GOJ/Netherlands Embassy Urban Development Project in the communities of Drewsland and Maverley.

He worked with the Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation Television Production Department for 10 years as a scriptwriter, actor, presenter, director and producer. His body of work includes the magazine programme Morning Time, the children educational programme Evening Time, short features for Schools Challenge Quiz, the drama series Pullett Hall, and specials on the National Festival of Arts competitions. As an actor he appeared in a number of productions including 1888 and Lime Tree Lane.

He also wrote and directed a video series on parenting for the Caribbean Child Development Centre, a customer service training video for the National Housing Trust, and directed a television drama on population issues for the Planning Institute of Jamaica. He has also voiced many radio commercials and drama serials since emerging as a talent in 1986.

His research interests are in community and empowerment communication with special focus on environmental education and communication and the impact of alternative media in the Caribbean. He has also done research in gender focusing on male perspectives on issues of gender equality.

He is married and has three daughters and a son. July 14, 2008

--Melodyp 16:36, 18 July 2008 (UTC)