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MISA
to attend SADC parliamentary conference
Media Institute
of Southern Africa (MISA)
May 31,
2006
http://www.misa.org/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?category=1&id=1148459716
The Media Institute
of Southern Africa (MISA) is set to participate in the Southern
Africa Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC-PF) partners
panel discussion entitled "Role of Parliaments in Governance
and Development at National and Regional Level" on 7 June 2006.
The panel discussion will be part of the commemorations of the 10th
anniversary of SADC Parliamentary Forum to be held during the forum’s
20th Plenary Assembly in Maputo Mozambique at the beginning of June.
MISA will be represented by the Regional Chairperson Kellys Kaunda.
This will be
a chance for MISA to lobby more than 100 parliamentarians from the
SADC region on media freedom and freedom of expression issues. "The
occasion will also be a chance for the Forum to take stock of how
far they have come in achieving their objectives – including achieving
30% representation of women in parliaments- and to chart a way forward"
said the Forum’s Secretary General Dr Kasuka Mutukwa. The parliamentarians
will then take the lessons learnt from the commemorations to their
local constituents.
MISA will also
have a chance to lobby other invited guests which include representatives
from SADC institutions, women’s regional organizations, SADC-PF’s
partner institutions, representatives from IDASA, Centre for Peace
Initiative as well as the forum’s other international partner organizations.
SADC Parliamentary
Forum which hopes to transform itself into a SADC parliament was
established by members of parliaments from the region in 1996. The
Forum aims at providing space for SADC parliamentarians to participate
in regional issues to help ensure that what happens at the regional
level benefits the electorate at national level.
According to
Mutukwa the forum- which boasts a membership of more than 2000 parliamentarians-
was also established to ensure that members of parliament participate
in SADC issues because when the SADC treaty was originally signed
it did not provide for members of parliament. "What SADC PF
is today is an established voice of members of parliament on SADC
affairs" said Mutukwa.
MISA, SADC-
PF and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and other partners also organized
a regional conference in April 2006 on broadcasting in Swaziland
which was attended by 28 members of parliament. The conference whose
main aim was to discuss transformation of state broadcasters into
public service broadcaster discovered that the lack of knowledge
among the region’s parliamentarians was a contributing factor inhibiting
civil society’s lobbying efforts.
In this regard
the forum- whose secretariat is in Windhoek- helps to share knowledge
among the MP’s through workshops and conferences.
Other past achievements
for the Forum include a major contribution to the advancement of
democratic elections in the region through its election monitoring
missions and the norms and standards for democratic elections that
it has published. They have also conducted several surveys including
one on ICT Needs and Policies in the region and the Status of HIV/AIDS
legislation in southern Africa’s parliaments.
For more information
on MISA contact:
Werani Chirambo
Communications Manger
Media Institute of Southern Africa Regional Secretariat
P/Bag 13386
Windhoek, Namibia
communications@misa.org
For more information
on SADC-PF see www.sadcpf.org
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
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