International
1GOAL
1 important goal
While we wish we could attend all the events happening this week in NYC, it’s just not possible. So here’s a great post from our colleague Nora Coghlan on the MDGs and education.
Earlier this morning, I listened to a powerful panel of speakers –- including former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, UK Secretary of State for International Development Andrew Mitchell, Queen Rania of Jordan and World Bank Managing Director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala –- rally around a single issue: education for all by 2015.
Under the banner of 1GOAL, a global campaign for universal education that recruited 18 million supporters during this summer’s World Cup, the panelists kicked off a week of MDG-related discussions by underscoring the fact that with its links to democracy, family health and economic growth, education is central to meeting all the MDGs and achieving long-term development beyond 2015.
More than one of the panelists cited this new Lancet study, which credits women’s education for half of the reduction in child mortality over the past few decades, as the latest in a growing mountain of evidence that says education leads to progress on multiple fronts.
It wasn’t all talk, though.
ONE members join the football world and African leaders in calling for education for all
 The yellow card is presented to South African President Jacob Zuma. |
After a month of excitement on the pitch the football World Cup is now over for another 4 years. But whatever team you supported, the real winner was Africa, with the tournament shining a light on continent and helping to shift many of the negative perceptions about it.
But just as important was what happened off the pitch, with world leaders meeting in Johannesburg prior to the final to attend the World Education Summit, hosted by South African President, Jacob Zuma. The Summit brought together more than 100 delegates with heads of state from Kenya, Mozambique and Botswana, as well as FIFA President Sepp Blatter and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, co-chair of 1GOAL attending.
During the summit our friends at 1GOAL presented a giant yellow card to President Zuma containing the names and messages from supporters around the world, including more than 10,000 ONE members, all calling on world leaders to provide education for 72 million children worldwide by 2015.
The leaders responded to the call, and their commitment to invest in universal education together with the call from African Heads of State to urgently prioritise investment in education are very welcome.
The summit in South Africa is an important first step but the major breakthrough needs to come at the upcoming UN Summit in September to help accelerate progress towards all the Millennium Development Goals.
Aaron Mokoena, 1GOAL ambassador and South Africa football captain said:
“President Zuma must be credited for calling this summit. 14 million football fans from around the world have signed up to this campaign and now world leaders need to make the dream of Education for All a reality. History shows that where the political will exists, great things can happen. South Africa now shares the delivery of this legacy with the rest of the world.”
And with the next World Cup taking place in Brazil in 4 years time, former Brazilian player Socrates added:
“Without an education children can be left with little more than hope to get them through life and the fact that today, in 2010, millions of children cannot go to school due to grinding poverty shames us all. We look to the Brazilian State and the next President to ensure there is a lasting legacy from this World Cup. In Brazil there are still approximately 5 million children of primary school age not attending school and approximately 14 million illiterate adults. Brazil must continue the good work that has started in South Africa and sustain this work so that by the next World Cup in Brazil, we have taken huge strides in getting every child into school.”
1:0 for Education
Last week the ONE team in Germany, together with our partners at 1GOAL, organized a soccer match to raise awareness for what we hope will be the lasting legacy, and real goal of this year’s Soccer World Cup: Education for all!
A team of artists including musician Rea Garvey and actors Axel Pape, Timmi Trinks and Timon Wloka faced a student team from Berlin’s Sophie Scholl School. During half time and after the game singer Judy Bailey performed her 1GOAL anthem “Spirit of Freedom” and other songs. As our photos show, spirits were good both on and off the field even though the students won by a little more than a margin: 17:4 was the final score!
1GOAL
The greatest football tournament in the world gets underway tomorrow. I can’t wait. I only wish my team (England) was on slightly better form, but I’m still hopeful! There is also something positive we can do to create a lasting legacy that could see millions more kids receive an education…
South African President Jacob Zuma has just announced that he will hold a global leadership summit during the World Cup. The aim? Push leaders to give the 72 million children still out of school an education by 2015. Something that’s not hard to support. So ONE is teaming up with 1GOAL, bringing together footballers and fans, to give world leaders the extra kick needed to make it happen.
Please join millions of people around the world by taking action
Make sure to write your own personal message with the petition as 1GOAL will be delivering these ‘yellow cards’ to world leaders on 7 July.
Since 2000, 42 million more children are in school thanks to effective aid and other policies. As the world turns its attention to Africa for the first football World Cup held on the continent, let’s enjoy the game and help give every child a basic education.
Now wouldn’t that be a legacy for the World Cup.
Jessica Alba on education for all
I had an incredible week, joining the ONE team on the road in Senegal and Ghana as part of the 1GOAL: Education for All campaign to make the lasting legacy of the upcoming World Cup education for every child.
I’ve wanted to travel to Africa my whole life and when offered the opportunity to listen and learn alongside ONE, it was a once in a lifetime chance that I couldn’t pass up. I’ve always admired the work ONE has done and being able to see the programs you’ve contributed to firsthand was inspiring.
We met African entrepreneurs and academics, spoke with civil society and private sector leaders. We sat with street vendors at a microfinance project, heard from women now able to save their and their children’s lives through ARV HIV/AIDS treatment. We met some amazing people, a new generation of leaders for not only the continent, but for the world.
My goal in going on this trip was to listen closely and learn more about the fight against global poverty. And what I heard repeatedly was that as I’ve always believed, education has the power to lift individuals, communities and entire nations out of poverty. From a promising business idea to a woman pushing cultural boundaries to stand up and speak out, education has been the key.
Today, 72 million kids are out of school around the world, the majority of them girls. Without an education, they are almost certain to be trapped in a life of poverty and robbed of the knowledge of their basic human rights. Every year a child is out of school is a year they lose in literacy, in health, in opportunity.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Since 2000, because people like you and governments took action, 48 million more children are in school. And if we come together around this World Cup, we can do even more to put education front and center. Together with FIFA, leading players and fans around the world, we can use the power of this truly global game to ensure that education for all is a lasting impact of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. We have a plan, we know how to beat this—all we need now is the will to make it happen.
Increased global education funding fights global poverty at the root, empowers girls and women, and promotes economic growth in poor countries around the world. And it’s a very smart investment: experts tell us that a girl will earn an additional 10% in income for every year of schooling she receives and be 50% less likely to become infected with HIV/AIDS. In Africa, children of mothers who receive five years of primary education are 40% more likely to live beyond the age of 5. It’s a proactive measure to avert many of the problems that plague developing countries.
We spent a day at Osu School in Accra, Ghana, where initiatives to provide free school uniforms and free lunch to students have dramatically increased enrollment. And they have one other policy with great results—requiring perfect attendance to play on the school’s soccer or “football” team! As a result of these programs, 71% of Ghanaian girls and 73% of Ghanaian boys go to school. Ghana’s President John Atta Mills has even signed up to 1GOAL, promising to provide free textbooks to every student.
At Osu, we met Stephen, an 18-year-old student with enormous talent. The Ghanaian Premiere League has already had their eye on this young goalkeeper for the past three years. The school’s headmaster has been keeping tabs on Stephen, constantly reminding him that you can’t be a good player without a good education. He stresses to Stephen that the only way he will know how to sustain the wealth and opportunities he will gain as a “footballer” (soccer player) is by having an education.
Stephen is an inspiring young man. He is the eldest of seven children and his family’s sole provider. He wakes early, goes to school, practices with his coaches in the afternoon and then goes to work at night as a busboy to support the family. On average he goes non-stop for 18 hours.
He told us that he now understands he cannot be a footballer or achieve his dreams without an education. Top teams are looking to recruit him. He dreams of playing for his national team, the Ghana Black Stars, and someday becoming a catcher for Chelsea.
You can’t go anywhere in Africa without seeing kids playing the sport. The excitement for the first-ever World Cup in Africa this summer is everywhere. The world’s eyes will be on the continent and it’s a moment for Africa to shine.
1GOAL goes mobile
 Mobile phone operators sign up to 1GOAL |
Mobile phone operators from around the world have teamed up with ONE’s partner 1GOAL, in support of universal education at this summer’s football World Cup in South Africa.
The operators, who serve more than 1 billion mobile users, will encourage people to sign up to the campaign, demonstrating to global leaders and the UN that universal education is a universal demand.
Making the announcement in Barcelona, Spain at the Mobile World Congress, Her Majesty, Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan, Co-founder and Co-Chair of 1GOAL said:
“I want to thank each and every one of you here today who has joined the 1GOAL team and who’ll reach out to subscribers with a message, an app, or a widget. 1GOAL is about people-power… the largest ever, never-before-done, cause-related campaign of its kind. And I hope that those of you in the mobile ecosystem who haven’t done so, will join up and sign up before our kick-off in April.”
South African football caption Aaron Mokoena, who recently joined ONE in London to talk about the importance of 2010 and the World Cup for Africa, added:
“This will be the year that the mobile fraternity and football joined hands for the greatest of events, and the greatest of causes; Education for all.”
The 1GOAL campaign aims to ensure that the lasting legacy of the football World Cup next year in South Africa is that every child can be learning in school by 2015.
UK Minister adds her voice to 1GOAL
© 2009 Foreign & Commonwealth Office
UK Foreign Office Minister Glenys Kinnock has signed up to the 1GOAL campaign during her recent visit to South Africa.
Speaking at Winnie Ngwekazi Primary School in Soweto, she said “Many millions more children are in school now because governments have focussed on that as a priority, but it is still totally unacceptable that 75 million children are not receiving any kind of primary education.”
She also said that she will discuss 1GOAL when Commonwealth leaders meet next month in Trinidad & Tobago.
The 1GOAL campaign, a partner to ONE, aims to ensure that the lasting legacy of the football World Cup next year in South Africa is that every child can be learning in school by 2015.
Watch an interview with Glenys Kinnock discussing 1GOAL:
Looking back at the Conservative Party Conference
The ‘Africa Dream Team’ sticker album that was produced for the Conservative Party Conference
Well, now that we’re rested post party conference season, I thought it was about time we filled you in on last week’s Conservative Party Conference in Manchester and the successful reception we hosted there.
As with the reception we held at the Labour Party conference the week before, ONE’s Oliver Buston said a few words of welcome and showed a video message from Archbishop Desmond Tutu in which he praised the progress that has been achieved so far in Africa. We were then privileged to have two footballers at our event – South African footballer Quinton Fortune and World Cup winner Marcel Desailly. They spoke about the importance of education and the 1GOAL campaign, which aims to aims to ensure that the lasting legacy of next year’s football World Cup is that every child can be learning in school by 2015. The Shadow International Development Secretary, Andrew Mitchell MP, also spoke outlining policies contained in the Conservative Green Paper (PDF). People seemed really interested in ONE and our issues and there was a positive atmosphere in the room.
As a way of linking our reception events with the World Cup, we proposed a ‘2010 Africa Dream Team’ of MPs. So, for the party conferences, we created a set of 10 football stickers to collect and the opportunity to ‘join the team’ as the 11th player. Everyone was given a blank sticker album and, just like being back in the school playground, a flurry of swapsies was necessary to harvest the complete 10. The stickers even featured in The Sun, the Telegraph and the Guardian newspapers here.
At the receptions, people could join in and become the goalkeeper of the Africa Dream Team by having their face photographed, speedily photoshopped onto a football player’s body, and then printed out onto their very own sticker. It was hard work but worth it as people seemed to really get a kick out of them!
All in all the receptions were great successes. But in the coming weeks and months we will want to hear much more detail about what all the parties are committing to in their manifestos. Stay tuned…
The sticker album produced for the Labour Party Conference
1GOAL
UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown with Queen Rania al Abdulllah of Jordon and famous faces from the football world at the 1GOAL global campaign launch in London © 1GOAL
Last week 1GOAL held its global launch, with an event hosted in London by 1GOAL co-chair Queen Rania of Jordan and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. They were joined by a variety of speakers via satellite including FIFA President Sepp Blatter in Zurich, President Zuma in South Africa, Prime Minister Zapatero in Madrid, as well as a special message from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The football World Cup, taking place next year in South Africa, is the world’s biggest single sporting event. It is a moment when millions will come together to share the passion of football. The 1GOAL campaign, a partner to ONE, aims to ensure that the lasting legacy of the tournament is that every child can be learning in school by 2015.
President Jacob Zuma of South Africa talked about the importance of education and said “We support the footballers and their fans in calling on all world leaders to do their part to ensure every child can go to school. We need to see action at the World Cup and beyond. By acting now, together we can ensure education for all.”
1GOAL is supported by some of the leading members of the football world and its governing body, FIFA. England international footballer Rio Ferdinand said, “Children from every country deserve a chance at a better life and we want our leaders to make sure they get the education they need to break the cycle of poverty. Musicians have led influential campaigns against poverty; it’s time for the football world to do our part.”
Party conference season continues
Prime Minister Gordon Brown speaks at the ONE event.
Last week ONE was at the Labour Party conference, where we held an event to launch our ONE Vote campaign as well as celebrating 1Goal and the fact that the football World Cup will be held in Africa for the first time ever next year.
We were lucky to be joined by the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, who spoke about the issues. Two footballers also spoke, South African captain Aaron Mokoena and John Utaka, who plays for Nigeria and Portsmouth. They were followed by Glenys Kinnock, Minister for Europe, and Douglas Alexander, the Minister for International Development.
The ONE team is now in Manchester for the Conservative Party Conference, which started earlier this week, and we’re getting ready to host a reception this evening. We’ll be blogging more about the event soon so please stay tuned.
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The International ONE Blog is a daily log of the anti-poverty movement. The site is operated by ONE staff, with guest contributions from ONE volunteers, members and allies.
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TAGS: 1GOAL, 2010 MDG Summit, Education, Millennium Development Goals