Additionally encouraging has been the joining, this year, of the European Union to the basket fund partners that support MISA. Due to the nature of the organisation, resources to undertake and sustain our work are always a concern and we thus thank them for their support. Our heartfelt appreciation is also extended to our other partners in the basket fund for their continued support, namely the Humanistic Institute for Development (HIVOS), the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). We further thank other partners such as the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA), the Netherlands Institute for Southern Africa (NiZA), the Southern Africa Trust (SAT) and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), whose support has complemented that which we receive from the basket fund partners. MISA’s work continues to be important in deepening democracy in our region and we will continue to seek additional support for the many other projects – both national and regional – that will enhance MISA’s positive contribution in our region’s democratic evolution. As this is an election year, let me take this opportunity to thank all outgoing MISA governors – both national and regional – for dedicating their time and skills to the running of MISA. I thank Thabo Thakalekoala, Laona Segaetso, and Christof Maletsky who were my colleagues in the RGC Executive Committee for the sterling work that they have done in managing the Regional Secretariat and overseeing MISA’s regional work. I would like to welcome all the new governors who will be representing their various countries in National Governing Councils (NGCs) and the RGC. I urge them to persist in ensuring that MISA continues to be an important asset to the people of southern Africa and a vital partner to policymakers in the process of consolidating democracy in the region. I also urge the incoming leaders of MISA to remember at all times that MISA is a membership organisation and that as leaders we are ultimately called upon to carry out the mandate entrusted to us in pursuit of the organisation’s objectives. I would like to encourage us all to promote a reinvigoration of the role of the MISA membership at the various levels of the organisation. Last but not least, we appreciate the work that staff members at the Regional Secretariat and national chapters have been doing in order to ensure that MISA serves the media and the citizens of southern Africa. We acknowledge that it is not easy work and the commitment and sacrifice shown have not gone unnoticed. We especially commend MISA Zimbabwe for having done a great job while operating under very difficult circumstances. May the conviction that has brought us thus far – media diversity, pluralism, self-sufficiency and independence – keep our lamp burning well into the future! Lomcebo Dlamini Acting Chairperson Regional Governing Council Annual Report 2008 7