ples of good practice in diversifying sources, markets and ownership of the media. In her keynote address, Ammu Joseph, a media and gender activist from India, underscored the extent to which globalisation has concentrated media ownership and the dissemination of news in a few hands, and exacerbated the tendency to portray women as sex objects rather than as holistic beings. The summit highlighted a number of ways in which the media was failing to give a voice to the voiceless. The summit ended with a call for greater media diversity in all areas – ownership, content and audiences. MISA sponsored the gender and media awards held during the summit’s gala dinner. A total of 187 entries in 12 categories were received, and the winning articles dealt with a range of subjects: from the challenges faced in accessing credit to a beauty queen who finds out she is HIV positive. MISA continued to participate in the ongoing campaign of the draft Protocol on Gender and Development that will hopefully be presented at the Heads of State Summit in Lusaka in 2007. Several meetings took place where MISA was represented and made submissions. MISA Policy on HIV and AIDS The MISA Regional Secretariat was tasked by the AGM to put in place an internal HIV and AIDS policy that would be developed for the organisation as a whole. The draft policy developed by the staff would serve as a model for national chapters to follow when developing their own policies. The next step would be to roll out the policy to MISA’s institutional members: the media houses. In order to carry out this task, it was felt that Regional Secretariat staff must first internalise the process before going out to the membership. It was also very important that MISA took the decision to work very closely with HIV-positive people as they have first-hand information of the disease and are better able to advise on how to deal with HIV and AIDS in the workplace. In June 2006, the Regional Secretariat and MISA Namibia staff took part in a three-day ‘AIDS and Me’ workshop designed to enable staff to address HIV and AIDS in their own lives, and to use this personalisation process to determine the ingredients for an HIV and AIDS policy for the Secretariat. Through this process, the staff felt that HIV and AIDS should not be addressed in a vacuum and that the organisation’s productivity was closely linked with the health and well-being of all staff, and not just those living with and directly affected by HIV and AIDS. The staff therefore agreed to develop an overall Wellness Policy – a major component of which would focus on mitigating the impact of HIV and AIDS within the MISA family. The policy that was finally drafted forms part of the wellness policy that aims to promote productivity within the organisation through the creation of a supportive environment that encourages staff to live healthy and productive lives, both within and outside the workplace. More particularly, the policy recognises the impacts of HIV and AIDS in southern Africa, and MISA seeks to minimise the medical, social, economic and developmental consequences of the epidemic on MISA projects and its staff. MISA is committed to addressing HIV and AIDS in a positive, supportive and non-discriminatory manner, with the informed support and co-operation of all employees. The impact of the internalisation process has led to MISA staff making the effort to learn more about the disease and how to protect themselves better. The staff have had meetings focusing on the medical aid schemes that are available in the region with a view to MISA offering a common medical aid package to all employees throughout the region, as well as member institutions if the need arises. 50 Annual Report 2007