The African Media Village
exhibition at the WSIS

The partnership sent delegates to Geneva to attend PrepCom 3 in September and the Summit in
December 2003. At the summit, the partnership hosted an African Media Village installation in
the exhibition hall which was considered one of the most innovative exhibit at the whole summit.
The installation featured live size pictures of real persons taken from 6 countries of SADC, who
use ICTs in one form or another in their daily lives. Each picture told a story which visitors to the
stand could listen to from concealed CD recordings, while a write-up was also provided for those
who preferred to read.
The village also hosted the AMARC radio station which carried live broadcast during the summit.
The radio broadcast was then sent to members of AMARC through the internet for their use.
Interviews with many prominent visitors to the stand were also carried out, enabling them to
share their perspectives about the information society.
MISA and its partners took part in the WSIS as part of advocacy on issues affecting southern
Africa in the information society. These included advocacy for the inclusion of language in the
summit’s Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action that encouraged the adoption of the
principles of the African Charter on Broadcasting. The partners pushed for the recognition of
community media and the transformation of state broadcasting into public service broadcasting
throughout the process leading to and including the summit. While these advocacy issues were
not included in the final summit documents, the partnership made significant progress in
engaging some of the SADC states delegations resulting in Botswana and South Africa pushing
for these issues during Working Group negotiations. It was also a source of inspiration when the
head of the South African delegation to the Summit made extensive reference to the work of the
partnership in her address to the summit on December 11, 2003.

6.8

Awareness campaign for broadcasting reform in Angola

Angola is recovering from the effects of a protracted civil war, and the media has not been spared
from this experience. The broadcasting media is a resemblance of that scenario. After the closure
of the MISA chapter in Angola and following recommendations to re-open the office, MISA
Secretariat prioritised the need for broadcasting legislation reform in Angola.

MISA Annual Report (April 2003 – March 2004)

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