www.misa.org relations between the global north and the global south. These relations, frequently rather than not, are hidden in elusive concepts such as collaboration, and when implemented, they are acts of an extractive relationship bordering on exploitative existence. I am happy the global network on expression IFEX, where I’m the convenor, has tackled this issue head-on by drafting a collaboration framework and principles. This is an attempt to stimulate the muchneeded frank conversations among the local (global south organisations), intermediaries (to global support funds) and donors on the need to shift the power dynamics and entrench the concept of safeguarding in this process to nurture a deep-rooted collaboration regime between and among these actors. The Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD) is also reviewing its code of conduct to shine the spotlight on these practices. For example, we had a disturbing case of “collaboration” where the organisation in the global north “assumed the lead applicant” role in a two-year project. The lead organisation spared the four African partners a collective 20%, while retaining the rest at its headquarters in Europe. Yet the boots on the ground are the African organisations, as the project will be implemented in Africa. In other instances, international organisations domiciled elsewhere with no local offices in Africa will get a lead from local organisations in terms of media and expression development. MISA Regional Annual Report 2023 They circumvent the attribution processes, seek contacts from the organisations monitoring from the ground, and create a picture that they got the cue on their own accord. Such practices require urgent attention within the broader conversation of decoloniality and the need for safeguarding in the age of fragmentation. As MISA, we believe that the structure and sustenance of this collaboration framework and principles is a critical process in strengthening the shield of defence of the peoples of the world, specifically those in fragile states’ right to free expression, which constitutes an evolving act of selfdetermination and definition. “ We commemorate these milestones in tribute to those outstanding journalists and expression activists who passed away in 2023 and the successive years before, many at the hands of repressive regimes and the unjust wars globally. In this self-contradictory environment, MISA has forged ahead with interventions beyond the quest for headlines, as many within and without the continent seek. We have made interventions aimed at instituting lasting change in communities. In our quest to liquidate all forms of attacks on expression in an increasingly complex 7