Strengthening the voice of African writers in civil society
October 15, 2018
An UNDEF regional project has just completed a series of activities aimed at contributing to efforts to repeal criminal defamation laws and other restrictions to freedom of expression - barriers to strong and stable democracies. Project grantee PEN International in collaboration with its centres in Africa, in particular Sierra Leone, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia, the project provided capacity building for writers in 10 African countries to enable them to initiate strong advocacy campaigns and become experts in the issue of defamation at the national level. Training was followed up by national level research in the four focus countries to examine the policy and legal frameworks and provide case study examples as a basis for the development of advocacy strategies and coalition building in the country.
Partnerships were also strengthened through the project with regional bodies, such as the Pan-African Parliament, which has laid the groundwork for greater engagement with parliamentarians across Africa.
