African football for education
22 January 2008
The United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) have launched a campaign to harness the power of football to promote quality education for Africa's children during the 2008 African Cup of Nations in Ghana.
The campaign aims to raise awareness of the role of quality education in Africa's development, and to raise funds for universal quality education on the continent.
A number of Africa's biggest football stars - including Stephen Appiah (Ghana), Nwankwo Kanu (Nigeria), Salomon Kalou (Ivory Coast), Aaron Mokoena (South Africa) and Samuel Eto'o (Cameroon) - will help spread the message that quality education helps children, especially girls, to gain the knowledge and confidence they need to pursue their dreams.
Football fans in five nations competing in the tournament will also be encouraged to use their mobile phones as a donation tool for education programmes in their own countries.
Fans who subscribe to the MTN mobile-phone service will be able to donate the local equivalent of $1 by sending an SMS text to a prescribed number. All donations will stay in-country to benefit local children.
Fans can also make an online donation that will help to get Africa's girls and boys in school, and help them stay there, at www.unicef.org/ghana.
"Playing football helped me to gain self-discipline, confidence, negotiation skills, teamwork and leadership," says Unicef Ghana goodwill ambassador and former football star Marcel Desailly. "I am glad to learn that Unicef considers sport an important part of education."
While progress has been made in education across Africa, many challenges remain. According to Unicef, some 41-million primary-school-age children are not in school in sub-Saharan African alone, while millions who do attend classes are often without teachers, textbooks or basic school supplies.
SAinfo reporter
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