Farewell to the Training Station

After 15 years working around the world, Media Training Station Community Interest Company – trading as MTS and ‘The Training Station’ – has closed. We thank all our funders, partners and consultants for their support and collaboration. We are always pleased to see that so many of our projects have continued to thrive and evolve, long after our engagement, and know this will continue to be the case.

The Training Station was established in October 2011 to provide training in professional and personal skills in the fields of journalism, the media, human rights and humanitarian and development aid.

A community interest company, or CIC, works for the benefit of a defined community – in our case, journalists and media organisations in countries in transition, crisis and conflict, as well as people who work in the development and humanitarian sectors. The aims and operation of a CIC have to be approved by a government regulator. All profits are re-invested for the benefit of the community.

During our operations we delivered projects with a value of more than one million pounds, all on time and within budget.

We delivered training and created content on behalf of the British Council; the British government sports development agency, UK Sport; the major media development organisation Internews; and the BBC’s media development charity, BBC Media Action.

We created online courses for universities, NGOs, and news organisations. We introduced video learning resources into online postgraduate courses for the Royal Agricultural University.

We received funding directly and indirectly from the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office; the UK Department for International Development; Norwegian People’s Aid; the US State Department, and USAID.

We thank them for their support.

Project design and management

We developed media production and training projects worldwide, on behalf of governments, international non-governmental organisations, and commercial companies.

Training

We delivered face-to-face and distance training, mentoring and support in journalism practice and ethics, governance and development issues, conflict resolution, human rights, communicating gender-based violence issues, editorial skills, management in the media, building links with the media. We identified training needs and establish training plans to meet them. We devised innovative, interactive training, and evaluate learning programmes.

Online learning

We created rich, online learning content specifically for well-defined target audiences. We developed and delivered a variety of robust online learning platforms suitable for use in challenging IT environments.

Media production

We created multi-media content, including text, audio and video, deploying the most appropriate technologies, whether that is full broadcast-quality equipment or a smartphone. 

Recruitment, induction and support of trainers

We recruited appropriately skilled and motivated trainers and consultants, especially for work in countries in crisis and undergoing development.

We’ve worked extensively overseas for many years, and enjoy working with diverse, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-lingual groups.

Between us, we’ve worked in more than 70 countries, including:

• Europe: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia,  Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye, Ukraine
• Eurasia: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine
• Middle East: Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Iran (remotely), Israel, Jordan, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen
• Africa: Algeria, Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia
• Asia: Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam
• Americas: Brazil

The founders and directors of The Training Station were three former BBC journalists and trainers – Nick Raistrick, Kevin Burden and Neil McCafferty. Individually and jointly, they are highly regarded in the media training sector.

They are also very active outside work, on land, sea and air.

Managing Director Kevin Burden lives by the sea and, outside working hours, spends his time on and in the water.

Neil McCafferty, the Director of Broadcast and Technology, takes to the air, piloting everything from small airplanes to large commercial jets.

Director of Training Nick Raistrick prefers land, which he criss-crosses on two wheels.

Follow the links to read more about their professional lives.