Cover Story
in Africa with Africa builds on the success of the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES) in Neuchatel in Switzerland through an extensive partnership with selected African universities to give students a solid grounding in areas as diverse as communications, law, management and organisation of sporting events and marketing. The programme, which started at the Cheikh Anta Diop University in Senegal in 2006, later took off in Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in South Africa. Also this year, two further partnerships would begin, one with the University of South Africa, whose distance-learning courses began in February 2008, and the other with Cairo University, Egypt, from September.
FOOTBALL ARCHIVE Using video clips to demonstrate the various national stadiums that FIFA has helped to refurbish or build on the African continent, Jerome Champagne, FIFA Director for International Relations also presented to both the African Diplomats and journalists at the conference as part of the Win in Africa with Africa project a complete and unique archive of African football, including footage of fantastic football actions and historic moments that were previously scattered around the continent. He stated that this unique collection of documentation would be made available to fans of the African game in a box set containing 7,000 documents, 2000 photos, exclusive interviews, the complete collection of several African publications as well as a first ever video compilation of the goals scored by African teams at FIFA World Cups. Outlining the important role of the media in spreading the message, helping to build brands and creating anticipation as well as awareness, Jerome Champagne added that
New Business Africa
with the help of experts, FIFA was working on educational training for print, radio and television journalists with a view to leaving a lasting legacy for the game, for the world and for Africa as a whole.
NOT ABOUT AID The initiative - Win in Africa with Africa is not about sending aid to Africa but about providing the continent with the tools to progress and the skills with which it could continue its own development. No one could put it more pointedly as FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter when he asked rhetorically: “Why World cup in Africa? It is justice for Africa for what Africa has done in terms of players, referees and coaching development. Africa is a power house. If you don’t give it to them, then something is wrong” Concluding, the World Soccer Chief opined that if everybody does what football is doing in Africa, the world would not be talking about poverty, disease and development aid for the continent. Solidarity, he asserted “is not about preaching and paying lip service, it is more worthwhile to practice it” The conference was attended by many African Ambassadors to Switzerland. Among them were Ambassadors A.J. Correia - Angola, S. Amehou Republic of Benin, N. Nkundwanabake Burundi, H.L. Bindzi Cameroon, R-J. Menga Congo, E. Diarrassouba Ivory Coast, M. Camara Guinea, F. Velho Rodrigues Mozambique, I. Adani Niger and V. Sebudandi Rwanda. Others that stood in for their Ambassadors were 1st Secretary, Mr. Agyekum Ghana, Charge de affaires a.i. Mr. I. Aldredi Libya, Charge de affaires a.i. Mrs. F. Arasah Nigeria, Charge de affaires a.i. Mr. M. Blout Tunisia and Social Affairs Officer, Mr. B. Naidoo.
September 2009
25