In February 2009, MISA Swaziland was nominated to coordinate the country’s media sector in the national response
to HIV and AIDS. In collaboration with the National Emergency Response Council on HIV-AIDS (NERCHA), the local chapter organised a two-day strategic planning workshop to improve its coordination of the media sector’s
response to HIV and AIDS. MISA Swaziland staff and National Governing Council (NGC) members, editors and other
media stakeholders attended the workshop. MISA Swaziland, in collaboration with Skillshare International, organised a workshop on human rights for women media workers. The workshop also facilitated the revival of the Media
Women’s Association, which was launched in March 2009.

Training and other support to media
MISA Lesotho held a five-day training event on governance with the financial assistance of the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) through the Lesotho Council of NGOs. This was also followed by a three-day
training course in peace building for journalists, funded by the British Department of International Development
(DFID) through Skillshare International.
MISA Tanzania, in collaboration with PACT-Tanzania and with sponsorship of United States Agency for International
Development (USAID) Millennium Challenge Corporation, trained Tanzanian journalists in investigative reporting
techniques. Thirty journalists were also trained on the Public Procurement Act and financial regulations as tools to
fight, expose and report on corruption. The project provided small grants to support journalists to investigate issues
of governance and corruption.
MISA Tanzania facilitated a roundtable discussion on access to information, under the theme ‘The role of the media
in combating corruption – achievements and challenges after two years’. Various stakeholders were invited to discuss the obstacles faced by Tanzanian journalists in accessing information on governance.
Recognising the needs of training Tanzanian journalists in investigative reporting skills, the chapter designed a
training manual on the subject. The manual was created from the experiences obtained from the civil society anticorruption project, which ran for two years. The manual will be used as a training tool for countrywide, in-depth,
investigative reporting training.
In Tanzania, the focus by the local MISA chapter on investigative and corruption reporting has yielded results with
the media taking an interest in exposing high-level corruption. The Prime Minister of Tanzania and several highranking officials resigned as a result of media exposure of their involvement in corruption.
The regional training on the coverage of gender and HIV and AIDS issues has led to improved visibility in the media
of these issues. The Namibian media, for example, have exposed the abuse of HIV-positive women being sterilised
without their consent or knowledge. The investigative journalism training that MISA has offered at a regional and
chapter level has also increased the quantity and quality of investigative stories in Malawi, Zambia and Tanzania.
Recognising that access to information could be enhanced through internet training for journalists, MISA Tanzania
and the Finnish Foundation for Media, Communication and Development (VIKES) held workshops for journalists on
how to use the internet in modern journalism for fact-finding, news monitoring, communication and publication.

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Annual Report 2009

Select target paragraph3