Scoring for Africa
Former UN Secretary-General and Chair of the Africa Progress Panel, Kofi Annan, and Côte d’Ivoire football star Didier Drogba came together this week to publish Scoring for Africa – An Alternative Guide to the World Cup.
The report compares the key statistics of the African countries taking part in the tournament against their competitors in terms of development – examining key indicators such as economic growth, access to education and human development.
Although African nations have a fair playing field when it comes to football; this is not the case when it comes to issues such as trade or the fight against climate change. The report shows that:
- The average life expectancy in Nigeria is 48 years, compared to 75 years in Argentina.
- Women in Côte d’Ivoire are 8 times more likely to die as a result of child birth than their Brazilian counterparts.
- In South Africa 44.5% of parliamentarians (in the lower or single house) are women, compared to 18.9% in France.
In the foreword to the report, Annan and Drogba state:
“We passionately believe that fair play should not be limited to the way countries play, run and score against each other, but also the way they do business and politics with each other; that the spirit of the World Cup should extend into countries’ economic and political relations; and that the celebration of our common humanity should not be limited to one month every four years.”
Both men hope that as well as celebrating the World Cup, ‘Scoring for Africa’ makes football fans around the world more aware of another side to the tournament, and ensures that the outpouring of interest in Africa around the games is channelled towards a fairer world over the long term.
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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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14/06/2010 at 12:08 pm
I wonder what people went to see in the world cup? Some are talking about the competition being help in a poor continent, some other are showing programmes about township and so on. For me it is simple to highlight the main though and I would say that people went to see the Continent that made them rich and helped them built their fortress, despite laeving himself with nothing.
14/06/2010 at 5:22 pm
I think that this World Cup is an excellent adventure and priceless opportunity, I believe that the World Cup, just like G20 summits, Olympics ect., are going to happen whether the cost and effort could be better spent somewhere else or not.
This World Cup, unlike many (recently) before it, has opened the door and allowed initiative driven citizens the opportunity to enlighten the world. I am thankful for Mr. Drogba and Annan as they are doing what we all should be doing. Celebrating a beautiful nation and continent with the rest of the World, and using that celebration to show what other opportunities that are available to increase the quality of lives in those beautiful -but often struggling – regions of the globe.
We can say how much we care about the ‘forgotten’ peoples of the Planet, and when the world is finally looking at them, talking aobut them, and even walking past them – lets show how much we mean what we say! Thank-you to ONE international for you positive efforts during this priceless opportunity!
14/06/2010 at 5:25 pm
Are we trying to use this opportunity to grow? I am trying to start 2 non-profit organizations and the chance to have the World look at my target audience would be priceless! Lets use this chance to spread the positive ideas while everyone is paying attention – then hopefully nobody will forget!