WHAT WE DO Making southern Africa a more conducive environment for media freedom Over the past 21 years, the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) has been the primary advocate for media freedom and freedom of expression in southern Africa, issuing alerts on media freedom violations, condemnations of killings, assaults, criminal charges and other forms of unjustified attacks on journalists, including restrictions on access to information. We have a presence in 11 countries across southern Africa and participate in a range of continental and international fora, projects and actions to advance media freedom and freedom of expression across the continent. MISA’s work focuses on making sustainable, lasting changes to the media landscape in the southern Africa region that will make our countries safer places for journalists to work and more conducive for media freedom and freedom of expression. Our activities include: • Advocating for changes to restrictive laws • Advocating for development of positive legislation, such as access to information laws; • Researching and publishing reports on media violations and the state of the media environment in southern African countries; and • 8 Supporting greater professionalism among journalists by building capacity through training, workshops, seminars and other educational platforms and by producing research and information resources. OUR MISSION MISA’s mission is to create an environment of media freedom and free expression, promoting independence, pluralism and diversity of views and opinions, media sustainability, competency and professionalism in the southern African region. We aim to create an environment where civil society can exercise their rights to access information, making citizens more informed and strengthening democracy. MISA will ensure that gender-specific needs form an integral part of all its activities. MISA will lobby for promotion and protection of media freedom and free expression and will strengthen and support the development of a vibrant, professional and participatory media sector as an essential part of the deepening of democracy in southern Africa. OUR VISION MISA’s vision is of a southern African where media enjoy freedom of expression, pluralism of views and COLOMBIA opinions and independence from political, economic and commercial interests. Our vision is of a region where members of society, individually or collectively, are free to express themselves through any media of their choice without hindrance of any kind. A region, too, where access to information is unhindered and information is readily available. The MISA vision is: • A media that is free, independent, diverse and pluralistic. • Access to the media and information by all sectors of society. • Media workers who are competent, critical, accountable, sensitive to gender issues and aware of their responsibility to society. • Legislation, regulations and policy environments that support media independence, diversity and pluralism. • Citizens in the SADC region that are empowered to claim information as a basic right.