Communication and dissemination MISA’s communication and dissemination strategy aims primarily to increase the organisation’s brand awareness in order for MISA to be more credible in its advocacy and fundraising efforts. The second aim is to ensure that MISA’s advocacy efforts are appropriate for the intended audience, and are thus effective and efficient. In the year under review, MISA maintained its website, www.misa.org, and used the internet to communicate with its members and donors. A total of 3,000 copies were printed of the 2008 publication, So This is Democracy? The State of Media Freedom and Freedom of Expression in Southern Africa. MISA continues to support its national chapters to improve their communications. The Regional Secretariat assisted MISA Swaziland in developing a website, and this process will be taken to other chapters. Technical visits to provide chapters with communication support were made to Tanzania, Lesotho, Malawi and Swaziland. MISA South Africa re-launched its website in July 2008. Internal communications During the 2008-2009 financial year, the intranet was introduced at MISA in an effort to increase internal communications and the flow of information within the organisation. The electronic newsletter, MISAWise, was compiled and distributed each month to inform MISA employees, donors and partners about the organisation (see www. misa.org/misawise). Mailing lists that help MISA to communicate internally, as well as with external stakeholders, were updated regularly. In the countries where it is legal, Voice-Over-Internet Protocol (VOIP) continued to be used by MISA staff, although not to the degree anticipated. An audit of VOIP use will be conducted to determine the exact level of use, before deciding on the way forward. MISA’s broadcasting unit produces a monthly internet-based report on the state of broadcasting in southern Africa. The MISA alerts distributed by the media monitoring unit are also reaching a wide audience. During the year, MISA chapters published and distributed their newsletters and other publications, thus keeping the organisation at the forefront of issues related to media freedom and freedom of expression, while simultaneously communicating with members. MISA chapter publications: · MISA Botswana produced a special issue of the MISA Botswana Media Awards; · MISA Malawi issued four editions of Ufulu newsletter; · MISA Namibia issued six editions of the monthly e-newsletter; · MISA Swaziland issued three editions of Khulumani newsletter, and six issues of its electronic monthly information digest; · MISA Tanzania issued a special newsletter to mark World Press Freedom Day on May 3 and published a newsletter; · MISA Zimbabwe issued 12 editions of its Monthly Reader’s Digest, an e-newsletter, and also one issue of In the Line of Fire - a record of narratives from Zimbabwe, State of the Media Report 2007; and · MISA Zimbabwe issued three editions of its publication, Thinking Beyond. 36 Annual Report 2009