The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Zambia has launched a strategic initiative to strengthen media freedom monitoring ahead of the 2026 general elections, with the training of 11 media monitors drawn from Northern, Copperbelt and North-Western Provinces.
The initiative, supported by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) under the project “Empowering Voices and Advancing Freedom of Expression”, aims to enhance real-time documentation of both online and offline violations affecting journalists and citizens.
Speaking during the official opening of the training on April 23rd in Lusaka, MISA Zambia Board Chairperson Mrs Lorraine Mwanza Chisanga emphasised that the electoral period is often marked by increased political activity, which, while essential to democracy, also presents risks such as misinformation, harassment of journalists, censorship and restricted access to information.
Mrs Chisanga added that the recruitment and decentralisation of media monitors requires deliberate efforts to strengthen grassroots-level reporting and ensure that violations are captured accurately and in real time.
The two-day training equipped participants with the necessary skills in identifying, documenting and reporting violations using standardised and ethical approaches, thereby improving the availability of credible data to inform advocacy and response interventions.
