The Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) focuses its work on promoting the rule of law, democracy building, human rights, economic development, education, public health, independent media, and access to information. The initiative’s varied activities share a common goal of reducing poverty, HIV/AIDS, and political instability throughout southern Africa.

The countries covered by OSISA include Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. OSISA programs across the region have supported efforts to implement the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria; aided the development of state constitutions; promoted transparency and accountability in natural resource management; monitored judicial independence and the government’s commitment to the rule of law; raised awareness on the situation of girls in southern Africa; supported investigative journalism; and initiated strategies for poverty reduction and public debt management.

While OSISA seeks to promote open society values across borders, it also develops projects that address specific local issues in each country. In Zimbabwe, in response to the country’s ongoing political and economic crisis, OSISA has supported efforts to document and bring international attention to the plight of Zimbabweans, worked to stop the delivery of a Chinese arms shipments, supported human rights defenders who have been targets of state violence and, most recently, assisted civil society organizations seeking to engage with the new unity government.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, OSISA has led a coalition of African women’s rights activists striving to bring attention to high rates of sexual violence against women. In Angola, OSISA has worked with members of parliament to promote transparency in the national budget, supported documentation of hunger and poverty rates, and conducted election monitoring.