Africa Media Barometer expression environments in Africa. In 2009 MISA therefore reviewed and improved the list of indicators of the AMB tool, added an executive summary to all reports thus making it more palatable to readers. The look of the AMB booklet was also overhauled. The revision of the project came at a substantial cost, i.e. MISA and its partner, fesmedia Africa, shared concerns about quality control and agreed that the appointment of a dedicated team of expert (and independent) facilitators and rapporteurs would be necessary. This was implemented in 2009. The African Media Barometer (AMB), an assessment tool for national media environments, was conducted in Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland and Zambia during 2009. Reports for all the countries are available online at www. misa.org and all have been printed, launched and distributed. The reports were uniform in highlighting the lack of transformation in the broadcasting environment in the southern African region. In addition, they highlighted increasing concerns about media capacity and professionalism. The AMB reports prioritised, in terms of proposed interventions in the national media environments, a need to solidify media and civil society coalitions for greater effect in the campaign for media freedom and freedom of expression. Gender and Elections MISA information and Advocacy officers participated in a training exercise in Johannesburg on October 5 and 6, 2009. This was in collaboration between MISA and Gender Links and intended to impart skills on Gender and Election Monitoring in preparation for two research and monitoring studies, i.e. the Gender and Media Progress study and the Gender, Power and Media. In addition, the training was intended to further develop skills of In addition to the implementation of the project, MISA has sought to further develop the indicators. It was noted that the AMB tool was lacking in its assessment of gender and ICTs in respect of the free 36 staff to monitor and advocate for the ratification of the SADC Gender Protocol. As part of this exercise interns were recruited in Namibia, Mozambique, and Botswana to help MISA collect data on the media reportage of the 2009 general elections with specific emphasis on gender and elections in those countries. This process was supplemented with training and discussions with media practitioners in Namibia and Mozambique, and Malawi. Various gender activists, politicians, media and election experts were thereafter invited to assess the outcome of the monitoring exercises and to receive training on reporting elections in order to promote balanced gender reporting on election related issues. The Gender and Media Progress Study is currently being compiled and will be launched in July 2010. MISA Namibia and MISA Mozambique conducted national training workshops to promote balanced reporting on gender and elections, prior to elections in these countries. The training exercises produced positive results in Mozambique and MISA has since congratulated the media for adhering to expected standards. Similar post-election monitoring projects were also held in Malawi to measure the success undertaken by the media in reporting on election in that country. Training on Investigating and Reporting Corruption for Journalists in SADC The UNDP’s Global Thematic Programme on Anti-Corruption for Development Effectiveness (PACDE) and MISA jointly organized a three-day regional training on “Investigating and Reporting Corruption” from 3-5 December, 2009. The main objective of the training was to build the capacity of media in southern Africa region by providing in-depth knowledge and skills on investigative journalism and facilitating knowledge exchange and discussions on the experiences of all participants. The training brought together participants from Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, 37