Bending history towards justice: How OSISA catalysed positive change in southern Africa.
Throughout its existence, OSISA advanced democracy, social justice, and human rights through grant-making, advocacy, and support for marginalised communities.
“Driven by the values of an open, democratic, just, and tolerant society, the organisation continually sought to amplify marginalised voices, strengthen civic participation, foster dialogue, and shine a light on injustice”
“The arc of history doesn’t follow its own course; it needs to be bent. I am really engaged in trying to bend it in the right direction.”
This quote is from a 2019 New York Times interview with then-89-year-old George Soros. Since 1984, the Hungarian-born multi-billionaire has donated more than $32 billion – or 64% of his original hedge-fund management fortune – to philanthropy.
The Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) was one such beneficiary. Since its inception in 1997, the grant-making and advocacy organisation oversaw work in 11 southern African countries and contributed to advancing democratic governance, social justice, and human rights in southern Africa. Just as Soros wanted to bend history in the right direction, so the organisation played a pivotal role in supporting initiatives promoting positive social change.
In its early days, OSISA started with only five people, based in a building in Johannesburg’s inner city. The organisation’s focus expanded over the years, addressing critical regional issues and providing financial support and capacity-building for innumerable civil society organisations, activists, and marginalised communities.
Under the Economic Justice, Health Rights, and Women’s Rights programmes, OSISA supported groups like Zambia’s Centre for Trade Policy and Development, a pro-poor economic development think-tank, the Community Working Group on Health, a network of civic and community-based organisations in Zimbabwe, the African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET), a Pan-African network of women’s rights organisations, and many, many more.
OSISA also supported the rights of indigenous groups, as exemplified by the historic agreement signed in South Africa in 2013 stating that the Khoi and San were legally entitled to benefits from the commercial development of the buchu plant. Throughout its existence, the organisation took part in strategic litigation, supported independent and investigative media campaigns, and facilitated regional networking to address social inequalities, combat corruption, expand funding, and create a lasting impact.
One of OSISA’s catalytic programmes involved the organisation’s investment in education in Madagascar in 2014. A small grant was the lynchpin Madagascar’s government needed to help improve access to education, develop a new curriculum and Early Childhood Development programmes, and improve the quality of teaching. This intervention catalysed a powerful education movement that caught the attention of even bigger funding partners, like the World Bank.
OSISA conducted research, policy analysis, and advocacy to influence public policies and promote accountability, transparency, and inclusive governance. Driven by the values of an open, democratic, just, and tolerant society, the organisation continually sought to amplify marginalised voices, strengthen civic participation, foster dialogue, and shine a light on injustice.
Through its Natural Resource Governance Team, OSISA supported the publication of the Botswana’s Diamond Deception report in 2015, exposing corruption in diamond extraction. OSISA also helped highlight mental health issues in Zimbabwe through support for the powerful documentary film, State of Mind, which focused on the challenges faced by individuals with mental illness. In 2020, OSISA galvanised significant support during the global pandemic by contributing $2 million to combat COVID-19 across southern Africa.
May the brave recognise that history’s arc doesn’t follow its own course; it must be bent.
Written by: Ang Lloyd
