About PEPSA

Project objectives

The Overall objective of PEPSA is to support civil society organisations in Southern Africa in creating, determining, improving and sustaining preconditions for free and fair elections in their respective countries.

The sub-objectives of PEPSA are to:

Support Southern African organisations involved in the PEPSA programmes through capacity building strategies and mechanisms;
Encourage, nurture and sustain regional, bilateral and national 'solidarity networks';
Jointly organise campaigns in Southern Africa, Washington, Brussels and the European Union on PEPSA objectives;
Jointly lobby in Southern Africa and northern global platforms and advocate for improved quality of elections and firm institutionalisation of democratic governance;
Monitor compliance of SADC member states to the Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections adopted in Mauritius in August 2004;
Publish an annual analysis, election environment barometer to be called the Mauritius Observatory;
Organise an annual Principles Observatory conference, at which the publication is presented and discussed; and
Determine the ways in which the SADC principles and the PEPSA findings could be translated into national legal frameworks and political practice for purposes of improving the quality of elections.

Project partners

The Mauritius Observatory is a joint project of
EISA · Hivos · MISA · NiZA · OSISA

EISA

EISA is a not-for-profit and non-partisan non-governmental organisation which was established in 1996. Its core business is to provide technical assistance for capacity building of relevant government departments, electoral management bodies, political parties and civil society organisations operating in the democracy and governance field throughout the SADC region and beyond. Inspired by the various positive developments towards democratic governance in Africa as a whole and the SADC region in particular since the early 1990s, EISA aims to advance democratic values, practices and enhance the credibility of electoral processes. The ultimate goal is to assist countries in Africa and the SADC region to nurture and consolidate democratic governance.

SADC countries have received enormous technical assistance and advice from EISA in building solid institutional foundations for democracy. This includes

electoral system reforms;
election monitoring and observation;
constructive conflict management;
strengthening of parliament and other democratic institutions;
strengthening of political parties;
capacity building for civil society organisations;
deepening democratic local governance; and
enhancing the institutional capacity of the election management bodies.

EISA is currently the secretariat of the Electoral Commissions Forum (ECF) composed of electoral commissions in the SADC region and established in 1998. EISA is also the secretariat of the SADC Election Support Network (ESN) comprising election-related civil society organisations established in 1997.

EISA's core business revolves around three main programme areas:

Conflict Management, Democracy and Electoral Education
Electoral and Political Processes
Balloting and Electoral Services

Hivos

Hivos (Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation) is a Dutch non-governamental organisation, which operates on the basis of humanist values. Hivos aims to contribute towards a free, just and sustainable world. The organisation is committed to the poor and marginalised - and to the organisations which promote their interests - in countries in the South, including Central Asia and Southeast Europe. Sustainable improvement of their situation is the ultimate benchmark for Hivos' work. An important cornerstone is strengthening of the position of women in society.

Civil society building, economic activity and sustainable production are Hivos' central policy areas. Hivos offers financial and political support to local NGO's. Besides offering finance and advice, Hivos is also active in networking, lobbying and in exchanging knowledge and expertise, not only at international level, but also in the Netherlands.

Hivos prefers to lobby internationally in close cooperation with pre-eminent southern or international partner organisations. In Europe Hivos works with like minded development organisations in Alliance 2015.

Within the Netherlands, Hivos joins forces with civil society organisations which have expertise and are active in Hivos' main policy areas.

Hivos' network embraces more than 30 countries and over 850 partner organisations. Hivos annual disbursement to partners and activities is close to 70 million Euro. These funds are provided by the Dutch government, EU, donors, savers, and private institutions.

For more information on Hivos, please visit the website http://www.hivos.nl or email the Regional Office based in Zimbabwe on hivosATecoweb.co.zw

MISA

Officially launched in September 1992, the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) is a non-governmental organisation with members in 11 Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) countries. It was created to help implement the 1991 Windhoek Declaration on Promoting an Independent and Pluralistic African Press.

MISA's work is founded on the fundamental values of freedom of expression, access to information, media diversity, pluralism and independence as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and in particular article 19.

While ensuring that gender-specific needs form an integral part of all activities, MISA seeks to play a leading role in creating an environment in which the free flow of information, ideas and opinions are encouraged through professionally run media as a principal means of nurturing democracy and human rights in Africa.

MISA aims to create an environment in which civil society is empowered to claim information and access to it as unalienable rights and in which the resultant freer information flow strengthens democracy by enabling more informed citizen participation. MISA work is focused on 5 programme areas of

Freedom of Expression
Media Freedom Monitoring
Broadcasting Diversity and ICT
Media Support; and
Legal Support

Through its Freedom of Expression programme, MISA has instituted the ASK Campaign. In this project, MISA campaigns for and promotes the enactment and adoption of enabling laws and policies like the adoption of Access to Information laws that make availability and accessibility of information possible. Only with information can citizens fully participate in a democracy and actively exercise their human rights. Moreover, because it enhances knowledge, information is fundamental to the empowerment of the poor and disadvantaged in society and provides them with an opportunity to fulfill their human aspirations. Likewise, an effective information flow is crucial to a functioning market economy.

Through its Media Support programme, MISA has also carried out Election Reporting training for media practitioners with the aim of improving the media's coverage of elections and then also undertaken election coverage monitoring.

The role of MISA is primarily one of a coordinator, facilitator and communicator, and for this reason MISA aims to cooperate with all like-minded organisations and individuals to achieve a genuinely free, diverse and pluralistic media in southern Africa. Such media would be able to provide balanced and professionally presented information for citizen participation in governance.

NiZA

The Netherlands institute for Southern Africa is a politically independent organisation committed to the solidarity with 'ordinary' people in southern Africa. NiZA helps them to structurally fight poverty, injustice and inequality. To attain this objective NiZA primarily collaborates with organisations in southern Africa that promote the freedom of expression, media freedom, human rights, peace building and economic justice. Together with and on behalf of these organisations NiZA works towards strengthen their capacity and influencing the policy-making process in the South as well as in the North.

Furthermore NiZA promotes the involvement of the Dutch people in southern Africa by collecting and disseminating documentation and information, and by informing the press and the public on issues concerning the region.

NiZA, which was formed in 1997 as a merger of the Institute for Southern Africa (formerly the Dutch Anti-Apartheid Movement), the Holland Committee on Southern Africa and the Eduardo Mondlane Foundation, has a record of supporting the liberation movements and various other groups in southern Africa of over 40 years. The Netherlands institute for Southern Africa continues to emphasise that it is a solidarity organisation rather than a more traditional donor organisation. NiZA has enjoyed the support of broad segments of the Dutch population: many private sponsors have supported and continue to support its work. These two elements, the extensive network of partners in southern Africa and the broad support the organisation enjoys in the Netherlands, remain central to NiZA's existence.

In principle NiZA focuses on twelve Member States of the Southern African Development Community: Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Lesotho, Namibia, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

OSISA

The Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) is a leading regional foundation, established in 1997 by investor and philanthropist George Soros, to create and sustain the institutions, policies and practices of an open society, where good governance, human rights and justice are respected and upheld. Its programmes broadly focus on Education, Media, Human Rights and Democracy, Information Communication Technologies, Economic Reform and HIV and Aids. In addition to undertaking advocacy, and working through multi-level partnerships with others, OSISA oversees grants across a region made up of Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

OSISA has a Vision of a vibrant Southern African society in which people, free from material and other deprivation, understand their rights and responsibilities and participate democratically in all spheres of life. Its Mission is to support initiatives working towards Open Society Ideals and advocate for these ideals in Southern Africa.

OSISA, in pursuit of Open Society Ideals, uses a unique model of flexibility, sensitivity and responsive regional engagement while maintaining political independence.