Gamos is a small but influential company working with the social factors surrounding technology use and transfer. A group of professionals who seek to select their clients (Governments and Non Government Agencies) to make the optimum impact. Founded in 1989, Gamos is concerned to use its professional skills for the empowerment of individuals and communities in the poorer sections of society in developing countries. This mainly involves training and research, actively seeking to build capacity in the South. GAMOS has managed research programmes that explored rural and urban energy choices, and factors working toconstrain and promote energy transitions to different fuels in the context of changing energy policy (both positive andnegative transitions). It predominantly works in Africa and Asia, and is a part of a number of Framework Agreementswith DFID UKAID.
Our Work Team
Simon Batchelor
Dr. Batchelor has over 30 years’ experience in development. Starting in agriculture and water provision in the 80’s, he focused on Wind and Solar energy, contributing to the early development of renewable energy in Africa and Asia. In the 90’s, he designed and implemented an innovative programme of social mobilisation in Cambodia – which saw considerable impact over a ten year period. This experience influenced his interest in the importance of social factors in technology adoption, and led to stream of participatory research focused on the role of energy in development. In 2002, based on research in Africa, Simon began to Champion thepotential of using Mobile Phones for banking the unbanked and loweringremittance costs. His successful lobbying contributions resulted in attentionbeing paid to the problem by the UK Treasury, mention of remittances in theG8 Gleneagles statement, inclusion in the Commission for Africa report,allocation of funds by IADB, World Bank, DFID, CGAP, GSM, SIDA, IDRCand most importantly the successful start-up of a number of Mobile Money Transfer products including MPesa by Vodafone inKenya. DFID acknowledged his role as Champion in 2005 and he currentlyworks with a number of private sector initiatives. From 2010 onwards he has returned to his clean energy roots, and is currently part of a number of research teams on low carbon programmes. A practitioner at heart, he is currently Director of Gamos Ltd, which undertakes action research and learning on the social factors influencing development programmes.
Jonathan D Smith
Research Assistant, Gamos Ltd
Jonathan supports research at Gamos on sustainable development and energy. He has conducted field research on behalf of charities in South Africa, Lebanon, the Palestinian Territories, the US and the UK. He recently managed a multi-year project on developing best practice in good campus relations at seven UK universities for the Lokahi Foundation. He holds MA degrees in Applied Linguistics from Georgia State University and International Peace Studies from the University of Notre Dame.
Dr Nigel Scott
Director, Gamos Ltd
Dr. Scott is an experienced researcher who has worked in the development sector for over 25 years and is currently a director of Gamos Ltd. His principal field of interest is understanding attitudes and behaviour among the poor and vulnerable, and in particular he has worked on applying statistical techniques to qualitative studies as part of mixed methods research methodologies. Much of his work has focused on access to infrastructure, notably energy and information and communication technologies (ICTs), and the associated impact on poverty. He has worked with a range of stakeholders including NGOs, research institutes, regulators, trade associations and the private sector. His PhD was in Wind Energy, and he had early career experience in Energy Efficiency in the UK commercial sector.
