General Publications

Adult Literacy

Putting Southern African Policy and Practice into Perspective

Literacy is central to human existence in an everchanging world. Literacy facilitates access and engagement with issues that are key to the sustainability and ongoing development of society. Literacy strengthens the capacity and capabilities of individuals and communities enhancing their participation in economic, social, political and cultural activities. It serves as a mechanism through which social justice, gender equality, liberation from discrimination and the ongoing struggle against exclusion can be pursued and realised. As such, it can and should be, an agent for social change, as means to the creation of peace and stability and the promotion of poverty reduction and democratic governance.

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Early Childhood Care and Education in Southern Africa

This year the focus of the Global Monitoring Report was on one of the neglected Education For All(EFA) goals, Goal 1, which is primarily concerned with the provision of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE). Recognising the need to advocate for this goal and fast track its achievement across Southern Africa within civil society and government, The Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA), the South African National Commission for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the South African Department of Education (DoE) and the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) School of Education teamed up to organise a public launch of the report and to host a colloquium focused on its key findings. This is a report of these two events.

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Whys and Why Nots of youth and adult education in Southern Africa

Southern Africa remains among the regions of the world with the lowest youth and adult literacy rates - as the Global Monitoring Report states: 38% of this regoin's adult population, or an estimated 161 million adults, were lacking litercay skills in 2000 - 2006.

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We have Degrees in Violence

A report on torture and human rights abuses in Zimbabwe (December 2007)

Since early 2007 Zimbabwe has been subject to an upsurge in political violence that has seriously undermined the democratic process and created a presumption that elections will not be free and fair.

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Constitutional Review and Reform: And the Adherence to Democratic Principles in Constitutions in Southern African Countries

(Louise Olivier, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-620-38911-2)

Constitutionalism requires that a democratic and accountable government has constitutional limits that check its power, and that create the framework for governing a democracy. A country's constitution defines, at least theoretically, its commitment to constitutionalism.

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Outside the Ballot Box: Preconditions for elections in Southern Africa 2005/ 6

(Edited by Jeanette Minnie, and published by MISA on behalf of the PEPSA Consortium. ISBN: 9916-62-13-8)

Fourteen authors have collaborated in producing this second edition of Outside the Ballot Box. Last year, when eight authors participated, the main focus was on national elections and good electoral practice as a major instrument of democratisation in the SADC region.

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Révision des contrats en RDC: Cinq cas d’études faites par l’ingénieur Kalala Budimbwa.

La République Démocratique du Congo regorge, comme le reconnait tout le monde, d’énormes ressources naturelles qui peuvent, une fois exploitées à bon escient, servir de base à l’amélioration des conditions socio-économiques de sa population.

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The Great Trek North: The expansion of South African media and ICT companies into the SADC region by Console Tleane

(by the Freedom of Expression Institute, with the assistance of OSISA,  2006. ISBN: 0-620-34905-0)

Given a legacy where the apartheid state's super-growth is partly attributable to its systematic exploitation of Southern African natural and human resources (the latter in the mines and on the farms that produced the surplus that became the financial basis for glitter and wealth of the Witwatersrand metropolis and other indicators of South African capital accumulation), and given the destabilisation efforts of the apartheid state – which immeasurably pulled back the development of regional countries such as Mozambique and Angola – the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region has keenly watched post-apartheid South African industrial and trade policy since 1994.

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Accessing Information: the key to an Open Society

(by the Freedom of Expression Institute, with the assistance of OSISA,  2006. ISBN: 0-620-34905-0)

The public’s right to access information, both state held and from the private sector, is an essential component in an open society that is committed to democratic processes, accountable leadership, transparency in its conduct and the rule of law.

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Mainstreaming ICTs: Africa Lives the Information Society

(Compiled and edited by Women'sNet and OSISA (2005). ISBN: 0-620-35 399-6)

Mainstreaming ICTs is a contribution towards efforts to bridge the "policy-practice" divide. The book is aimed at development practitioners and ICT innovators interested in inventive technology applications.

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Angola: Human development opportunities and threats: a programme of action

(Johannesburg: Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa, 2003)

The European Union (EU) Foreign Ministers—the Council—on October 13, 2003 adopted a number of important and wide-ranging resolutions on Angola. The Council welcomed “the substantial political changes that have occurred in Angola in 2002”, and indicated the EU's intention to maintain supportive relations with Angola as provided for in the framework of the EC/ Angola strategy for 2002—2007, signed with the Government of Angola on 28th January 2003.

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Engaging the New Pan-Africanism: Strategies for Civil Society

(Compiled by Chris Landsberg and Shaun McKay, Centre for Policy Studies (ActionAid International and OSISA, 2005))

The ultimate goal for all citizens must be to secure the ownership of all African institutions in a manner that ensures their accountability and enhances their value to each African. We should perceive each African institution as part of a larger continental infrastructure which we have a duty to construct and maintain. This must remain the vision that we set our sights to and pursue as effectively as we can.

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Cyberlaw for Civil Society: A Resource Guide

(By Pamela Stein (Ed.), Safiyya Patel and Doris Tshepe (Cheadle Thompson & Haysom and OSISA, 2003))

The Internet is a global network providing communication between millions of interconnected individual computers and computer networks, primarily through the use of telephone lines. The Internet means different things to different people. Many use the Internet for information gathering, or as a platform for providing information on a vast array of subjects.

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