MESSAGE FROM THE REGIONAL DIRECTOR MISA was created over 15 years ago with the mandate to fight for freedom of expression and media rights in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). This mission has not changed. Now in the second year of the Strategic Partnership Programme 2 (SPP2), MISA has made significant progress in each programme towards the attainment of a more plural, diverse and independent media environment. Over the past year, the call for the right to information took centre stage in MISA at both national and regional levels. The most notable milestone in this campaign was the greater awareness and growing understanding by policymakers of the indispensability of the right to information. This right has become a recurring, or indeed a pending, item on the law reform agenda and the urgency of enacting such legislation cannot simply be wished away. The right to information permeated policy discussions and legal processes within civil society and government, attested in countries like Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Tanzania. This is a major positive shift compared to previous years where the call for the right to information was brushed aside under the veneer of national security concerns and in conflict with privacy rights. MISA noted an increase in interest and understanding of access to information as an essential tool for effective governance, particularly for countries battling corruption in public institutions. However, the biggest drawback in this regard was the sudden and inexplicable reluctance by policymakers to move the process from political rhetoric to concrete tangible actions. This was the case in Zambia, Lesotho, Swaziland and Malawi, where the legislative process stalled. In Zimbabwe, despite MISA’s vigorous battle to repeal the draconian Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), the situation remained stagnant, if not worse. MISA intensified its campaign for diversity and liberalisation of the airwaves in southern Africa under the Broadcasting and Information Communication Technologies Programme. The major challenge of state ownership and control of national broadcasters in the region saw the campaign focusing on the transformation of such broadcasters into public service broadcasters. The highlights of this transformation initiative were national conferences, which brought together stakeholders and policymakers and set the tone for lobbying. The campaign was also enriched by research on the state broadcasting sector and news content analysis on some state broadcasters, which provided direction on where to focus the broadcasting reform initiatives. MISA’s campaign efforts registered successes in Botswana and Swaziland. In Botswana the regulatory authority awarded three national broadcasting licenses, ending the monopoly of the state broadcaster. Legislators also sent back a draft Broadcasting Bill, which did not fully guarantee transformation. In Swaziland, the government drafted a very progressive Public Service Broadcasting Bill, indicating an optimistic future for transformation in that country. MISA also continued to support community media. Highlights of this campaign included the South African chapter drafting a handbook on community television; the Lubombo Community Radio Initiative, which broadcast for 8 Annual Report 2007