Jo Weir ends 25 years of fun at work

After 25 years at the Reuters Foundation and its successor the Thomson Reuters Foundation, programme director Jo Weir (photo), has moved on.

“I can't imagine any other job that would have allowed me to do such amazing work and have so much fun doing it,” she said.

“I’ve been involved in the training of over 13,000 journalists many of whom have become friends. I have travelled for work to 78 countries - really from Albania to Zimbabwe with everywhere from North Korea (twice), Turks and Caicos Islands and Uzbekistan in between.”

In a farewell message to colleagues last week, she wrote: “Those of you who know me well know that I was hired to work for the Foundation at a cocktail party (thank you Sara Waterer and Stephen Somerville!).”

Monique Villa, Foundation chief executive, said Weir had been the engine behind some key projects, from Aswat Al-Iraq, Iraq’s first independent news service, in 2004, to Aswat Masriya in Egypt, which has been such a success, and now the new-born Source in Zimbabwe.

“Your team has trained thousands of journalists around the world and we have made quite a difference for so many in that way. In the last few years, you have also been very successful in turning our training business into a money maker for the foundation, with a rapidly expanding team.”

Weir’s job as director will be advertised. ■