SECTOR 1 1.10 Civil society in general and media lobby groups actively advance the cause of media freedom. “I have not heard a single voice in civil society on media issues.” Panellists pointed out that the dearth of civil society voices on media issues is reflective of CSOs tendency to work on issues in their specific sectors, rather than jointly on overarching concerns. “When we have an issue [in our sector] we fight for it and other organisations will not come in. As such we haven’t really been participating together and so we have not been moving together.” “The same issue came up at a recent conference in South Africa. It was clear from the discussions from different countries that civil society and the media have a relationship of convenience. They use each other as and when they need each other. There is no interaction on a regular basis, so there is never a chance to develop this common understanding, this common ground where we meet all the time.” A press conference was held when Outsa Mokone of the Sunday Standard was arrested and different organisations were given the opportunity to state their position. A statement was released at the time but it was not coordinated. When donors pulled out of Botswana during the 1990s, NGOs lobbied government for support and the umbrella organisation – the Botswana Council of NGOs (BOCONGO) was established. It was set up to look at resource mobilisation, capacity building and sustainability. So it was agreed at the time that the Government would allocate funding to the NGO sector in general; however it remained at the level of BOCONGO. “It is a pity that government funds BOCONGO because their role is to mobilise us on issues like this.” Scores: Individual scores: 1 Country does not meet indicator 2 Country meets only a few aspects of indicator 3 Country meets some aspects of indicator 4 Country meets most aspects of indicator 5 Country meets all aspects of the indicator Average score: 2.3 (2005 = 2.4; 2007 = 2.8; 2009 = 2.2; 2011 = 4.1) AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER Botswana 2014 23