drafted early this year and was sent to donors early in November and MISA is currently awaiting the approval of the document. MISA is grateful for the steadfast support we enjoy from funding partners, among them the Royal Danish Embassy, Royal Norwegian Embassy and the Royal Swedish Embassy. SPP III will guide MISA’s operations until 2013 when the funding ends. However under SPPIII MISA will streamline operations, a move that will see chapters in the region shedding off staff and streamline operations in order to meet the demands of the new funding. In some chapters there will be a need to even redefine programmes being undertaken. On the operations part MISA chapters have carried out most of the planned activities for the year, save for the situation obtaining in Angola. In Angola, activity implementation was affected by staff turnover. Despite this, major successes were achieved, most notably in view of concessions achieved by MISA from governments in Lesotho, Zambia and Malawi to commence the review of restrictive media laws. In Swaziland the opening up of the broadcasting sector is expected to assist the democratisation process of this country. MISA witnessed the impact of its advocacy and lobbying work of PanAfrican structures. More critically, MISA has – along with a growing lobby of African and international free expression organisations – successfully lobbied the African Union to elevate media development as a sector in its own right. This is a major policy victory. The work of MISA remains relevant and in demand as the organisation is the vanguard of media and freedom of expression defence in the region. Despite having national constitutions 11