Page 16 - OSISA Annual Report 2015-2018

Botswana’s
Diamond Deception
Khadija Sharife
Advancing transparency and
accountability in the extractive sector
As part of our effort to enhance transparency and accountability in the extractive sector, towards the end of 2015, through an active project, the Natural Resource Governance Team supported the publication of a damning report entitled Botswana’s Diamond Deception, through a collaboration between the African Centre for Investigative Journalism and a Botswana partner, INK. The report exposed the opaque and non-transparent extractive and beneficiation arrangements related to diamond extraction by De Beers and the Botswana Government (represented by the ruling party).
We also convened a policy seminar to discuss the implications of the Panama Papers on countries within the Southern African Development Community (SADC). A report of this meeting was published as an e-book in partnership with the Mail & Guardian (M&G) Africa. This was
the first time we had produced an e-book as we explored new forms of communication and outreach. The e-book is a combination of text, voice-overs, and videos from our roundtable. The M&G ran a social media campaign promoting the e-book with the banner on their entire M&G Africa Online network. The e-book utilises M&G’s digital platform to promote and disseminate our extractives work effectively using content to package African news and tell the real Africa story insightfully and engagingly. M&G has a total Africa reach of 500 000 people.
Finalisation of the Women’s Rights
Strategy
After several consultations, the Women’s Rights Strategy was finally submitted and discussed at the Board strategy retreat in October. The strategy outlines some key shifts in our work, particularly around a greater focus on women’s economic rights, and elaborates and details our proposed changes per the Global Board’s feedback.
Publication of the Towards Democratic Developmental States in Southern Africa book
At the end of the year, the flagship OSISA publication:
Towards Democratic Developmental States in Southern Africa was published. The publication was overseen by the Cluster Leader for Economic and Social Justice with editorial contributions from her, the Women’s Rights Programme Manager and the former OSISA Deputy Director, Deprose Muchena. The book is expected to be launched next year. It represents a significant intellectual contribution to the regional challenge of aligning democratisation with development, for which there is a shortage of documented literature and experiences.
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OPEN SOCIETY INITIATIVE FOR SOUTHERN AFRICA – 2016 REPORT