At the heart of the Access to Justice (ATJ) program is grant making support to partners and communities that seek to enhance the ability of people to access and obtain legal remedies through formal or informal institutions of law and justice, as part of a broader strategy to enhance the enjoyment of rights by all. Through this program OSISA seeks to empower citizens, communities and activists facing discrimination, injustice and human rights abuse because of their identity, beliefs and opinions to use the law as an instrument to push back on human rights abuses and injustices.

The OSISA's Disability Rights Programme has prioritised issues of people with Mental and Psychosocial Disability and People with Albinism. These have been noted to be issues that are marginal in the disability movement yet their effect is far-reaching. In relation to people with Mental and Psychosocial Disability, for instance, various national laws and even constitutions continue to perpetuate discrimination through the language that is used in the laws which include imbeciles, lunatics, and people of unsound mind among others.

The OSISA Human Rights Programme in Angola focused on two major issues that have dominated the Angolan political and social context as far as human rights are concerned. On one hand, the programme established a Human Rights Defenders Fund and extended its support to the Human Rights Monitoring Group. On the other, OSISA made a significant step in the effort of integrating Human Rights Education in the university curriculum:

 

• The need for strong human rights protection mechanisms

Angola is known for being on the list of top countries ruined by corruption, which in itself enables the establishment of endemic practices. In other words, the country inherited poorly built institutions that function with total disregard for fundamental rights.

 

• Strengthening education and grounding Human Rights into the Angolan system

There is no registry of any university curriculum aiming at engraining universal values into the students. With the exception of certain specific subjects in the courses of international relations and international public law delivered by certain Angolan universities, there is no trace of a formal and actual curriculum devoted to human rights.

The LGBT continue operating on four strands which are: a) Strengthening the LGBTI movement across Southern Africa to be resilient and responsive to the current climate where the spaces to engage are being challenged; b) Raising the voices of the most marginalised within the movement, looking in particular at lesbian women, trans and intersex populations; c) Change the narrative around LGBTI and religion; d) Challenge most marginalising laws and practises that impact the lives of LGBTI persons and communities.

Discrimination, racism, social and economic deprivation and exclusion continue to mark the lives of far too many citizens of southern Africa. In the case of indigenous people, this tragic reality is a continuation of centuries of domination and dispossession. To respond to these challenges, OSISA established the Indigenous Rights Programme, which serves as a platform for the Foundation to effectively advocate for the rights of indigenous and local peoples.