This programme configuration is cognizant of the premise that for there to be a vibrant society, a society that would articulate its rights and participate in the governance of its affairs, the people in such a society must have access to education; the society must be economically viable; the society must have access to information and the necessary technologies to access information and to communicate; the society must not be barred from articulating its needs due to linguistic limitations or discrimination; the society must have robust mechanisms for confronting public health issues such as HIV and AIDS; and the society must respect the rights of women as individuals and as equal partakers in the life of families, communities, and nations.

Within the above context, the current key strategies that OSISA is deploying in its work include:

The significant scaling up of programming in Angola. This is aided by a Brazil-Angola-Mozambique capacity building link project.

A focus on issues around resource transparency, through which such flagship projects as Education Watch and the Southern Africa Resource Watch have been initiated within OSISA.

The fact that Zimbabwe and Swaziland remain countries where OSISA closely watches governance, pursuing regional and international advocacy towards democratic solutions.

The work OSISA is doing, with respect to HIV and AIDS, on law reform and policy issues, resource tracking, and strengthening the voice of people living with HIV or AIDS. Sitting at the world epicenter of the pandemic where interventions by other actors are numerous, if not necessarily effectual, OSISA has opted for these three strategic approaches, as opposed to supporting service delivery projects.

The realisation that elections in the Southern Africa region remain one of the most visible threats or opportunities to the regional democratic space, and that therefore OSISA must continue to provide leadership in supporting the evolution of fully enforceable democratic norms and standards for elections observation, management and monitoring in Southern Africa.

The work that OSISA is executing on human rights regional standard-setting and implementation, including OSISA’s support for the domestication of treaty law in the Southern Africa region.

Economic Justice work, which is mainly premised on enabling public budget transparency, as well as on strengthening civil society oversight with respect to the use of natural resources in the region.

OSISA’s support for a media development loan fund to expand media options, in addition to the support of projects on protecting media workers under threat, reforming media policy (including in broadcasting), and monitoring media performance in the region.

OSISA’s recent launch of a Southern Africa Litigation Centre to support and grow human rights and constitutional litigation in the region. In addition, OSISA builds the capacity of bar associations in Southern Africa to defend the rule of law.

OSISA’s leadership in Education for All campaigning in the region, working with UNESCO and other partners; in addition to increasing access to learning materials through open source interventions in ICT, for instance through Education in a Box or specialised packages such as the Electronic Information for Libraries programme with Universities in the region.

A regional project on policy, legislative and bureaucratic practice reform towards access to information by citizens as policy actors.

The advocacy work on constitutions and constitutionalism.

OSISA’s partnership with the SADC Parliamentary Forum, seeking to assist civil society organisations to effectively engage with intergovernmental institutions.