The opportunity for equitable participation, inclusivity, and peace, are fundamental requirements of a functional democracy, which also requires the delivery of basic services and social transformation. RLS Southern Africa supports peace and stability in the SADC region through our work with community and civil society organisations.

We approach environmental questions from the perspective of society’s right to a safe and healthy environment. Hyperproduction and overconsumption have resulted in the climate crisis, now threatening our livelihoods, and affecting the marginalised disproportionately. In Southern Africa and the South West Indian Ocean IslandsWe support projects in mainland  which promote a just transition to low-carbon power sources, build activist networks, and assess socio-environmental impacts.

Today’s globalized economy offers more possibilities for transnational corporations to exercise undue influence on public policy through lobbying and sheer economic power. Corporate dominance is revealed in the negotiation of Bilateral and Multilateral Treaties, which continue to contribute to the exploitation of Africa and its natural resources, especially in countries with weak institutional capacity where corporations commit human rights violations and environmental harm beyond the reach of accountability. RLS Southern Africa aims to strengthen the capacity of organizations which focus on the protection of human, environmental, and labour rights.

Peaceful democratic culture can never be achieved without reflecting, critically, on history and without considering the rights of oppressed minorities such as women, LGBTI+ people, refugees, migrants, people who are stateless, and other disadvantaged groups within our society. RLS aims to provide spaces to overcome these struggles through collaborations with partner organisations.

A state of food sovereignty is the right of individuals, collectives and sovereign states to choose and develop their agricultural and food systems in a democratic manner. RLS Southern Africa supports farmworkers and their organisations in their struggles for their rights, a safe working environment and living wages.