Developments 49

O N E WO R L D A M I L L I O N S TO R I E S

The World Cup comes to Africa Afghan cricketers play for peace Bangladeshis learning English by mobile

All to play for How sport is opening new fields for global development

www.developments.org.uk

ISSUE 49 | 2010

EDUCATION IN THE CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

www.dfid.gov.uk Public Enquiry Point: 0845 300 4100 (UK only) or +44 1355 84 3132 (from outside the UK) enquiry@dfid.gov.uk Developments magazine and website are produced by the Department for International Development to raise awareness of development issues.

The views expressed do not necessarily reflect official policies.

Boys playing football in the mud, Sidoarjo, East Java, Indonesia. Š Chris Stowers/Panos

editors Martin Wroe Malcolm Doney DESIGNER Brian Cumming contributors Timothy Albone David Beckham Geoff Crawford Brian Draper James Hole Sarah Irving Leslie Knott Sulley Muntari David Prosser Molly Thomas-Meyer Louise Tickle Tom Watt This magazine is printed on 90gsm Royal Web Silk, from 100% FSC (Forestry Stewardship Council) certified pulp. It is manufactured in the UK and has a low-carbon footprint on transport.

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All to play for…

When the 2010 FIFA World Cup kicks off at Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg on 11 June, Africa – for the first time – will play host to the planet’s most popular sporting event. As the media floodlight illuminates this field of dreams, it also promises an unparalleled merging of sport and development.

Sport, as this edition of Developments illustrates, is more than a game – we’re discovering that it has huge developmental potential. And not just for children and young people.

It’s no secret that sport and physical activity brings benefits in health and wellbeing.

But now we discover other important by-products – from promoting education and developing leadership, to encouraging collaboration and resolving conflict.

And such is the world’s passion – obsession even – for sport, particularly football, that its global stars have a unique ability to focus people’s attention. When iconic figures like footballer David Beckham (page 12) or athlete Denise Lewis (page 24) harness their fame, and commit their energy to fighting poverty, huge new audiences are opened to a different perspective on life in the poorest countries.

In a year such as this one, the personal commitment of our sporting heroes can help break through apathy and stereotyped ideas about global poverty. And in the case of the fairytale journey of Afghanistan’s cricketers to the Twenty20 World Cup, they can even carry with them their hopes of their country’s people for another kind of world.

Martin Wroe and Malcolm Doney

Contents 4

Training session for an under-18s girls football team near Eldoret, Kenya. © Big Ideas Kenya

Global News

All to play for

Special focus on sport and development

8 Football Crazy With the World Cup in South Africa, can football kick off development?

12 David Beckham meets a challenge in Sierra Leone.

14 Sporting chance How football stars are tackling poverty.

16 First to the ball International footballer Sulley Muntari on growing up in Ghana.

18 Going for goal Harnessing the power of football to get kids into school.

20 Out of the ashes The Afghanistan cricket team is helping win the peace.

24 Let’s get physical The 2012 Olympics is already getting disadvantaged children on track.

27 Our turn to play Why sport needs to cross the gender divide.

31 Anyone for English?

For Bangladeshis the mobile phone is opening up the English language.

34 Personal Development

A journalist switches career and finds a calling.

36 Trying to be fair

Fair trade is flourishing even in danger zones.

page

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DEVELOPMENTS 49 GLOBAL NEWS

London Conference reaffirms international commitment to Afghanistan World leaders agree a strategy for securing Afghanistan’s future

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he London Conference, co-hosted by the UK government, the Government of Afghanistan and UN SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon, was designed to coordinate support for President Karzai in meeting his new agenda for progress on security, peace and reconciliation, governance and development, and regional relations.

The Conference forms part of a wider process that will see the Afghan Government increasingly take the lead in bringing stability, reconstruction and development to its people.

On January 28, the Afghan Government and the international community, as represented by more than 70 countries and international organisations, agreed: • To begin handing over leadership on security to the Afghans, subject to certain conditions, starting from late 2010.

• To help increase the trained strength of the Afghan National

A man harvesting chickpeas in Charkent District, Balkh, Afghanistan. © Jenny Matthews/Panos

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Army and Police to over 300,000 by the end of 2011.

• For the Afghan Government to take specific measures to tackle corruption, including the establishment of an independent Office of High Oversight and an Independent Monitoring and Evaluation Mission.

• To make international assistance more effective by channelling more aid through Afghan Government systems and building Government capacity to deliver for its people.

• To support better government systems at the provincial and district levels to improve service delivery such as waste collection, health, education and access to justice for all Afghans.

• To implement the Afghan government’s national Peace and Reintegration Programme.

• To increase regional cooperation.

The Department for International Development (DFID) said that

UK aid will be focused on four new programmes: 1. Improving access to justice for ordinary people in Helmand, allowing the rule of law to take root.

2. Ensuring the effective functioning of all 34 Provincial Governors’ Offices and all 365 District Governors’ Offices.

3. Provincial Governors’ budgets will be linked to performance, with more for those who deliver improved results.

4. And the Ministry of Agriculture will be assisted to help Afghan farmers increase crop yields, raise incomes and provide alternatives to growing poppy.

The Afghan Government is organising a conference in Kabul in the Spring to present detailed plans for progress.

Find out more at http://afghanistan.hmg.gov.uk/ en/conference

Women say “We must participate in Afghanistan’s development” Women must share decisionmaking and equal rights in Afghanistan, according to leading activists at the London Conference.

The women – from Afghan civil society and women’s rights groups – said stability, security and economic growth must involve women at both local and national level.

DFID, with support from Foreign and Commonwealth Office colleagues in Kabul and London, helped bring the group to London where they took part in a number of non-governmental events – five Afghan women also attended a pre-conference reception, where they met UK political leaders, NATO officials, Afghan President Hamid Karzai and US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.

The group delivered a statement of four key messages aimed at expanding the role of women in the country.

They highlighted economic development and long-term reconstruction as vital alongside military efforts. Founder of Afghan Women’s Skills Development organisation, Mary Akrami said: “We want peace and security with justice and the involvement of women.

If there is a peace jirga or talks at a regional level, we want women’s participation. We want no compromises on the constitution and women’s rights.”

DFID supports job creation schemes such as the Microfinance Investment and Support Facility for Afghanistan (MISFA) – where women account for 60% of more than 400,000 people to benefit from small business loans.

The women were given firm assurances that any reconciliation with the Taliban means working within the guarantee of women’s rights and equal participation laid down in the Afghan constitution.

University signs global learning charter

© Rankin/Oxfam

Nottingham Trent University has become the first UK university to sign the Development Education Association’s Global Learning Charter. By signing up, the university declares that it will fulfil the charter commitment to “supporting UK citizens to learn about key global issues such as international poverty and climate change” through its work.

DEA is a charity promoting education which puts learning in an international context. So far, almost 200 organisations have signed the charter, including the British Red Cross, the National Union of Teachers and schools from across the globe.

“The work of DEA has focused on primary and secondary education, and Nottingham Trent University is at the forefront of the

move to broaden this to all levels of the education sector,” said Dr Roy Smith, principal lecturer in international relations from the School of Arts and Humanities “The charter seeks the promotion of a ‘just and sustainable world’, which is in line with the university’s aim to nurture graduates who will make a positive impact on society as active global citizens.”

“Together we can better address global challenges like poverty, climate change and racial or religious intolerance“ said Hetan Shah, chief executive of DEA. “Nottingham Trent University is playing a crucial part in encouraging more people to learn about the big global issues so we all have the means to thrive in our increasingly globalised, interdependent world.”

Send your money safely

Images of selflessness in conflict on display

Use reliable channels sending cash overseas, urges new guide

A photographic exhibition focusing on love and solidarity found in the Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the world’s most troubled conflict zones, opened on London’s South Bank in February.

Two million people in eastern Congo are displaced, but most don’t live in camps; they live with families who have opened their homes to those who have lost everything – in many cases complete strangers.

Portrait photographer Rankin, in a collaboration with Oxfam, met host families who were housing other families in small, two-roomed homes. He took photographs against the trademark white background he uses with celebrity clients, such as Kate Moss and the Queen.

From Congo with Love is inspired by stories of previously untold compassion of ordinary people surviving the continuing conflict in the region. The works are contained in a book of the same name, proceeds of which go to Oxfam’s work in the Congo.

Workers sending cash – ‘remittances’ – to friends and family overseas should keep their money safe by using trustworthy channels like banks, transfer companies and foreign exchange agencies.

Currently, up to £2bn – a third of all money sent back to friends and family from the UK – goes through ‘informal’ channels. Remittances are a vital source of income in many poor countries, paying for school and medical fees, food and clothing.

From the UK, the main developing countries that receive remittances are India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Jamaica and Ghana. According to the World Bank, officially recorded remittance flows to developing countries reached $338bn in 2008.

The Financial Services Authority’s ‘Moneymadeclear’ guidance provides practical impartial advice for people who send remittances from the UK. The guide, Sending Money Safely, enables consumers to make an informed choice on which companies to send money through, what to do if things go wrong and details of a complaints procedure.

As well as looking at the kindness shown by Congo’s host families, the portraits focus on other forms of love found in Congo, such as romantic love, mother’s love and the pain of love lost.

“This collection focuses on the relationships that bind people to each other – the connections that make us human,” said Rankin “I hope that these photographs can aid understanding. They are neither ugly images of brutality, nor sentimental images of suffering.

The world needs imagery that, instead of encouraging pity and powerlessness, promotes understanding, connection, and ultimately action. It’s about making people accessible to each other.”

Rankin also held photography workshops with the local community, handing out cameras and teaching people how to take their own pictures. The images taken by the community are also in the book, displayed alongside Rankin’s.

Find out more www.oxfam.org.uk

© Russell Shively

Love in the Congo

Find out more at SendMoneyHome.org

DEVELOPMENTS 49 | 5

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DEVELOPMENTS 49 GLOBAL NEWS

Civilians to stabilise conflict zones Pool of civilian experts launched to help rebuild troubled regions

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new group of civilian experts are set to play a vital role in helping countries affected by conflict get back on their feet.

The Civilian Stabilisation Group has been created by the Stabilisation Unit, a unit owned jointly by the Department for International Development, the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, to bring together 1,000 civilians with reconstruction and stabilisation expertise in fields ranging from law enforcement to the rebuilding of local institutions.

In February, 250 experts from the group met in London. Members of the Civilian Stabilisation Group in Afghanistan have a part to play

in the latest push by coalition and Afghan forces against the Taliban, Operation Moshtarak.

Once Afghan and coalition forces have cleared areas under threat by insurgents, the Afghans will take the lead in holding them, but there will also be follow-up efforts by UK civilians who will work with local elders and district governors on issues that fall under the stabilisation banner.

The Civilian Stabilisation Group will enable the UK government to significantly increase the civilian effort in countries like Afghanistan, Sudan, Kosovo, Georgia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The head of the Stabilisation Unit, Sheelagh Stewart said “The

Unit is the government’s centre of expertise and best practice in stabilisation, responding to the complex challenges of fragile and conflict-affected states.

This is about getting the right people to fragile countries fast enough to reduce threats to their stability.”

Currently, the Stabilisation Unit has over 100 civilians in the field: experts in governance, rule of law, economic recovery and security sector reform.

The Unit has also deployed members of the Civilian Stabilisation Group to help the Haitian Government.

The Unit’s efforts will focus on reconstructing prisons.

Election observers on duty in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 2006. © DFID

Juicy prospects for Ethiopian fruit farm Investment in an innovative fruit production and processing business in central Ethiopia could be guaranteed by the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) of the World Bank. MIGA is looking at covering $9.25m in financing from the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa (IDC) and Africa Juice BV, of the Netherlands. They’ve teamed up to buy a fruit farm in the Tibila area, near the capital Addis Ababa, rehabilitating and expanding its operations to grow yellow passion fruit on 600 hectares and other tropical fruits such as mango and papaya on another 600 hectares.

The two investors also want to build a new fruit processing plant at the farm.

Women miners wanted South African companies should employ more women in mines, according to a World Bank agency.

The bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) regards the feminisation of this traditionally male industrial bastion as a key tool for social and economic development. Together with major South African platinum miner Lonmin plc, it’s launched a guide to help mining companies incorporate women into their workforce. South African mining legislation says 10% of the overall workforce should be female, but company facilities are designed to suit male workers only. “The mining sector traditionally has been a difficult place for women to work,” said IFC. The guide aims to help companies “accommodate women working in core mining and processing, including providing basic amenities such as underground facilities and change rooms for women”. IFC’s mining chief William Bulmer said: “The mining sector is a powerful vehicle for helping people improve their lives and escape poverty”.

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Playing football in Accra, Ghana.

Robin Hammond/Panos

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hen Kenya descended into tribal violence after the presidential elections of 2007, the impoverished suburb of Kimumu on the outskirts of the town of Eldoret, was badly affected. Trouble broke out between the local Kikuyu and Kalenjin ethnic groups leaving 20 people dead and more than a thousand people were driven from their homes into camps.

But among those made homeless were several volunteers with the Africa Sports and Talents Empowerment Programme (A-STEP), an organisation supported by UKaid from the Department for International Development (DFID) which brings young people together to play sport and learn how to live healthy lives. They realised that sport was now offering a new opportunity – to build bridges between rival communities. The volunteers set up activities in the camp like volleyball and athletics and arranged a football match between Kikuyus and Kalenjins. It was a risky proposition.

“Many of the people who came were very fearful,” recalls Andrew Makhanu, the head coach of a local boys’ team. ”They thought there could be fighting again and people could be killed.”

In fact it turned out quite differently. Before the match, the young Kikuyus and Kalenjins shook hands. Afterwards, they talked about peace. A month later, 80 young people came together to play a series of matches and this time the tribes were mixed together. “People were amazed when they saw the teams playing and they told others about what they’d seen,” explains Andrew Makhanu. “Every time we played, more and more people came to watch and support.”

By the end of the year over 600 young people from Eldoret

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had been involved in sports competitions organised by A-STEP with matches always followed by discussions about the need for peace, often led by religious leaders and local political figures like the mayor.

It would be foolish to think that football can broker lasting political reconciliation but it’s fair to say that it opened the way for communication, without which there is no reconciliation. And practically, says Makhanu, the people driven out during post-election violence were able to return to their homes without fear.

At the Freemasons’ Tavern on Long Acre, London in October 1863, members attending the inaugural meeting of the Football Association could not have dreamed of the enduring and global influence that football was set to have. Who would have thought that a century and a half later, with the 2010 World Cup Finals in South Africa, it might provide the most watched televised event in history? And neither could they have imagined the passion it would arouse in young people in streets and dusty wasteground, in shanty towns and favelas across the planet. If hundreds of millions play the game every week, more than a billion will tune in to watch the biggest tournaments.

Go almost anywhere in the world – regardless of politics, ethnicity or language – and it won’t be long before you see a bunch of kids chasing a ball, whether it’s made from regulation leather, or ingeniously woven from plastic carrier bags. “Across every continent, football is a common language and a culture shared,” says the urbane Arsene Wenger, manager of Arsenal FC in London, which once boasted 11 nationalities on its 11-man teamsheet. “Joy, passion,

FOOTBALL CRAZY? When football’s World Cup arrives in Africa this summer, it will capture a global audience. But does the ‘beautiful game’ also have the power to drive development and even help blow the whistle on conflict? Martin Wroe reports.

DEVELOPMENTS 49 | 9

Girls from an under-18 football team, part of the A-Step programme in Kenya. © Big Ideas Kenya

knowing what it is to be in a team; an escape, an inspiration, an affirmation of identity.”

And the deluge of big money that follows the game’s media saturation has meant that some of the world’s most successful sports icons come from some of its poorest and most unlikely backgrounds. When Les Elephants – the national team of Cote d’Ivoire – take to the field in the World Cup finals this summer, they will parade some of the world’s finest, and best-paid, footballers. From the Chelsea pair of Didier

SOUTH AFRICA Population 48.6 million Average life expectancy 50 years Average per capita income $9780 Nearly 16 years since its first democratic elections, South Africa plays an important global role as a large emerging economy. The only African member of the G20, it actively promotes Africa’s interests internationally in areas such as trade, peace and security and climate change. But it faces critical challenges, including poverty, unemployment, skills and health.

DFID’s main priorities in South Africa are growth, governance, HIV and AIDS.

Find out more at www.dfid.gov.uk/southafrica

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Street kids playing football on the beach in Durban, South Africa. © Wilf Whitty/Amos Trust

Drogba and Salomon Kalou to Sevilla’s Didier Zokora, Barcelona’s Yaya Toure, his brother Kole at Manchester City, Arsenal’s Emmanuel Eboue and Stuttgart’s Arthur Boka. They are emblematic of the hope that football provides for many of their fans in the poorest countries.

Former Tottenham Hotspur star Zokora began playing on the dusty streets of Abidjan, in the district of Yopougon and was talent spotted for the ASEC Mimosa football academy, established

by Jean-Marc Guillou, a former French international. “I went to the academy when I was 13,” Zokora recalls. “I spent six years there – with Kolo Touré, Emmanuel Eboué, Didier Drogba. It’s all I wanted to do. Since I was little, I’ve only ever thought about football. It’s my one vocation. And apart from football, I really don’t know what else there is in life. Only football.”

Within a few years they and other African millionaires will be heading back to the continent of their birth to take part in the first totally global sporting event to take place in Africa. For the players of Africa in particular it is an extraordinary moment not merely to represent their country but to represent them on their own continent.

“It is a badge of honour,” as former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has put it. “For those doing so after years of adversity – such as Angola – it provides a sense of national renewal.

Richard Nifasha heads the ball during football practice at a community field in Kensington, Cape Town. Richard, a refugee from Burundi, was a professional footballer and played for the Burundi national team before coming to South Africa in the hope of being discovered. Alexia Webster/Twenty Ten/Panos

And for those who are currently riven by conflict, but whose World Cup team is a unique and powerful symbol of national unity – such as Ivory Coast – it inspires nothing less than the hope of national rebirth.”

But while football has become a universal language, it is not merely the money and fame of its most successful players that explains its unique appeal. It is the simplicity. You just need something that passes for a ball, a bit of space for a kickaround. You can just as easily play football in a refugee camp as the Nou Camp.

You don’t even need a team. ‘Keepy-uppy’ can absorb a dedicated child for hours.

And because its clear rules are so simple, the pitchside drama so inclusive, it has increasingly been seen as a potent vehicle to fight poverty – from getting children into school to health education and conflict resolution, or reintegrtating street children into their communities. hree months ahead of the World Cup, a different global tournament took place in Durban. Drawing mixed-gender teams from nine countries, the Street Child World Cup harnessed the media focus on South Africa to highlight the plight of children and teenagers living rough in many of the world’s great cities.

They created a global Street Child Manifesto,

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demanding street children’s rights to a full, healthy, dignified life, as set out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Meanwhile research suggests that sport may help children and young people involved in armed conflict by offering them sociallyacceptable and structured patterns of behaviour.

Studies on the reintegration of former child combatants in west Africa has shown that participation in sport helped make a shift from a social context in which violence is “normalized”, towards one in which working together as a team is recognised and acknowledged in “peaceful and socially-accepted ways”.

And sometimes the sheer lure of being able to play the game can be exploited for wide developmental goals. Inspired by a visit to see friends in Sierra Leone, the Welsh footballer Craig Bellamy put £650,000 into helping establish the first ever structure for youth football in the country (see page 14). There are 1,600 players, 40 coaches and 40 managers.

Teams in the Craig Bellamy Foundation League gain points not only from results, but also by school attendance records and participation in community development projects. Early figures, through UNICEF, reported in the Times,

show that while the average secondary school attendance rate in Sierra Leone is 21%, Bellamy’s 1,600 footballers average over 80%.

However tough life gets, football is transformative. Nwankwo Kanu, of Arsenal and Portsmouth, may earn millions now, but he remembers growing up in Nigeria all too well. “We could not get three meals in a day; sometimes we’d struggle. But we always had soccer: something that everybody, especially in Nigeria, loves. It’s something that pulls the whole country together, something that can bring peace and unity to Nigeria.”

That’s because sport of all kinds, but particularly football, has the power to unite people, says Nelson Mandela. “In Africa, soccer enjoys great popularity and has a particular place in the hearts of people. This is why it is so important that the FIFA World Cup will for the first time ever be hosted on the African continent in 2010. We feel privileged and humbled that South Africa has been given the singular honour of being the host country.”

Find out more www.fifa.com/worldcup http://streetchildworldcup.org

CUP OF HOPE South Africa 2010: the Legacy

Building a World Cup Stadium in Soweto, South Africa. © Ricardo De Mattos

During the final week of the World Cup, while the greatest players in the game are competing for football’s biggest prize, a very different tournament will take place in the township of Alexandra in Johannesburg. The Football for Hope Festival 2010 will bring together 32 delegations from organisations using football to effect social change around the world. These are groups that use football to address ethnic violence in Israel and Palestine, environmental pollution in the slums of Kenya, HIV and Aids education in South Africa, landmine education in Cambodia, and gang culture in Ecuador.

Each delegation is selected not for their skill on the pitch but their contribution to social change in disadvantaged communities around the world – they will take part in a fast-paced football tournament as well as a programme of exchange and intercultural dialogue.

The action will take place in a speciallyconstructed stadium in the heart of Alexandra, providing spectators with a grandstand view of the action as mixed-gender teams of youngsters aged between 15 and 18 compete for the title of world champions. There will be no referees – any disagreements between the teams are resolved through dialogue.

And Football for Hope, led by FIFA and streetfootballworld, is at the heart of this planned legacy of the World Cup. 20 Centres for 2010 is the official campaign of the World Cup designed to achieve positive social change through football by building 20 Football for Hope centres for public health, education and football across Africa. These will address local social challenges in disadvantaged areas and improve education and health services for young people.

“The Football for Hope Festival will be a unique opportunity for organisations using football as a tool for social development in every part of the world to interact with each other and to showcase their programmes on football’s biggest stage,” said FIFA President Sepp Blatter. “We look forward experiencing together how football is contributing to building a better future.”

Find out more www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/ worldwideprograms/footballforhope/

DEVELOPMENTS 49 | 11

© UNICEF/ HQ08-0009/David Turnley

CROSSING CONTINENTS When David Beckham visited Sierra Leone, the experience challenged his ideas about poverty… and football. He talked to Tom Watt. ’d never been anywhere like Sierra Leone.

While I was at Manchester United, we went to Thailand on a tour and, while we were there, we visited a facility called the Kredtrakarn Centre in Bangkok which was supported by UNICEF. All of the girls there had been involved in sex work or child labour at some point in their lives and exploited by adults. Some of them were still very young. The centre was a refuge for all of them. That must have been at least ten years ago now but the memory has stayed with me ever since: that visit opened my eyes to things I’d never thought about, things I couldn’t even imagine.

That visit with United was my first introduction to UNICEF and I was honoured,

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afterwards, to be asked to get involved personally. I had an obvious connection with the Sport for Development programme and wanted to do something to help. Ever since agreeing to become a UNICEF goodwill ambassador, I’d always had this idea to do a trip to Africa as part of what I was doing with the charity.

I wanted to go somewhere I felt I could actually do some good by visiting; I wanted to see what help people were getting from the fundraising I was involved in back at home. If I was going to properly understand what UNICEF was trying to do, I needed to see it in action for myself.

When the opportunity to do a visit like that was first mentioned, I talked to the people from UNICEF and we agreed that I should do the thing

properly. I didn’t want to go somewhere that had been tidied up for my visit so that we could take some nice photos. I wanted to go somewhere UNICEF’s work was most needed, somewhere in real trouble. That’s when the possibility of going to Sierra Leone came up. UNICEF’s focus there is on child survival: 27% of children in the country die before reaching their fifth birthday, the highest percentage anywhere in the world. Once I found out about the situation and the fact that so many of those children die from preventable causes, despite some people telling me how dangerous it was and telling me I didn’t need to go somewhere like that to make an impression, I was determined that Sierra Leone it would be.

I wasn’t worried about my safety or anything

© David Turnley/Getty Images

like that before I went. To be honest, what I was worried about was what effect the things I was going to see might have on me. I suppose I didn’t really have any idea how I was going to come away feeling. I’ve got to say that going to Sierra Leone turned out to be one of the most rewarding, most satisfying experiences of my life. It was a trip I won’t ever forget.

It may seem hard to believe but, in the end, I left Sierra Leone feeling so positive. Of course I saw hunger, illness, devastation, and it was terrible; but, at the same time, the work I saw going on genuinely inspired me. What UNICEF is trying to do in Sierra Leone really is changing kids’ lives there and the lives of their families too. I’d never have imagined that: that I would come away from a country that’s suffered so much but still feel positive about Sierra Leone’s future. UNICEF’s work was going on and that meant there was hope. And, you know, football can be a little part of that.

I was taken to a town called Mangorea, where we went to visit a newborn little girl named Mariatsu, just a day or two old. I went to

Mariatsu’s house with the community health nurse, Angele. Mariatsu’s mum, Alice, was 16 and was hoping to be able to go back to school soon. Angele was there to give Mariatsu her polio vaccination and I actually got to give her the drops that morning. I can’t describe the feeling to you. I just kept thinking: “Am I doing this right?” It was pretty incredible. e stopped off at Mariatsu’s house on our way to a community health outreach post near the town of Makeni in the Northern Province (see picture, left). Children from all the villages nearby can go there to see the nurses who check their growth, weigh them, give them vaccinations and talk to their parents about hygiene and nutrition.

After we’d met the staff there and seen what was going on, we came outside and there were all these children waiting around. I looked at the crowd of kids and thought: “We should give them a football.” I grabbed one and hid it behind my back.

I found myself thinking how lucky our kids

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are at home; how much our kids have to enjoy.

There, in Sierra Leone, you could see how much a football could mean to those children.

A proper ball. The excitement on their faces is the same excitement, though, that I see on my own kids’ faces when they’re having fun. Playing football makes those children happy in Sierra Leone just like it makes our kids happy back at home. I think they were excited to see me.

But I think they were even more excited about getting a real ball. They were amazed by it but, as soon as I handed it over, they were straight into playing a game: they ran off and forgot all about me.

I went through so many different emotions during my time with those children in Sierra Leone. We went to another UNICEF-supported clinic, Binkolo, in the town of Makeni. They look after mums and their children there, especially trying to prevent the transmission to newborns of HIV. I met so many children.

Can you imagine the love you feel? Of course I love my own children. But you’re there in west Africa, away from everything you know, and holding those twins in your arms. They were just a few months old. They’ve no idea who you are or what’s going on. But you can feel a parent’s love welling up inside you. I’d been worried – I’m a bit on the emotional side, you know! – that I’d get upset; that I’d get a bit overwhelmed by it all. But you can see what’s being done; their lives are so hard but those children look bright and happy. One boy came up to me when I arrived and handed me a little flower (see picture below). In return, he expected me to carry him around in my arms for the next hour! What could I do?

Well, I could play football. And I’d had in my mind all along that, as well as the visits, it would be great to do something to do with football, even though I wasn’t sure what. Later in the © David Turnley/Getty Images

Sierra Leone Population 6 million Average life expectancy 47.3 years Average per capita income $287 Sierra Leone has amazing mineral wealth, yet 70% of its population lives in poverty and it is also ranked as one of the world’s poorest countries – third from the bottom of the Human Development Index. Following the civil war of 1991-2002, the country has made remarkable progress in consolidating peace and rebuilding its infrastructure. However, more than 70% of women and 50% of men are illiterate, and the infant, child and maternal mortality rates are among the worst in the world. The UK government’s priorities in Sierra Leone are security and stability, governance, and economic growth.

Find out more www.dfid.gov.uk/sierraleone

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day, we were driving along, just crossing over a bridge in a place called Aberdeen, which is a neighbourhood of the capital of Sierra Leone, Freetown. I saw this cloud of dust coming up off a field by the side of the road. There must have been about 40 kids on there, running around in the middle of a game of football: eight and nineyear-olds through to guys my age.

I called out to our driver: “Stop!” A couple of the guys looking after us said it would be better not to stop right there but I just said, “No, I’m going for a game of football.” There were some old metal goalposts; nets, even. I wandered over and they came running up to me. First, they were just amazed to see a white guy coming to join in. Then I think some of them recognised me. But we just started playing: it was a game of ‘shirts’ versus ‘skins’. I played shirts first half and then skins after. We must have played for about half an hour. I’ve got to tell you: it was hot; ridiculously hot! I don’t know if I’ve ever

David Beckham

Los Angeles Galaxy, Inter Milan & England Beckham is a UNICEF goodwill ambassador and particularly inspired by work being done in South Africa to prevent babies being born with HIV. He recently visited a programme in Khayelitsha township in Cape Town, South Africa where he met pregnant young women and new mothers on the UNICEF supported Mothers to Mothers (M2M) programme which provides HIV-positive pregnant women and new mothers with vital education and support that helps to prevent them passing HIV to their unborn babies.

David Beckham also supports www.malarianomore.org/

sweated like that during a game of football.

And I’ve definitely played on better pitches!

It was really bumpy but some of the kids had great touch which was probably down to them playing on that sort of surface. So lean, too; fit – really good athletes. The guy in the orange shorts and the red shirt (pictured, right) took it on himself to become my ‘minder’ during the game. He made sure nobody tried to kick me too hard or foul me. And, at the end, it was him that managed to get me back to our vehicle: it got a bit mad once we finished playing. I gave him my shirt to say thank you.

I can’t know for sure but I got the feeling those lads are probably out on that pitch pretty well every hour of every day. You could see how much they love football; how much they love playing the game. People in Sierra Leone love watching too. Anywhere there’s a TV, if there’s a game on, you’ll see 40 or 50 kids crowded round it, trying to have a look. The Africa Cup of Nations was on while I was out there and everybody wanted to be in front of a screen whenever there was a game. You’ll be driving along the road and see a bar with a telly on and it’s just a crowd of people – kids, adults, everybody – out in the street, watching. It’s fantastic.

Manchester, Madrid, Los Angeles or Freetown: football’s a game people love everywhere you go. Since I made my debut for Manchester United – that’s a long time ago now! – one of the things that’s changed in professional football is that there are players from all over the world playing in the different leagues now. From the supporter’s point of view, I think foreign players have brought so much to the Premier League in England, for example. People like Eric Cantona and Dennis Bergkamp and Gianfranco Zola made a huge difference to English football while I was at United. At Real Madrid, it felt like a privilege for me to be playing alongside truly

great players like Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo.

And in Los Angeles, it’s the same: every dressing room, it seems, is full of players from different countries, different continents.

But, even though you may not speak the same language as your teammate – and you may have been brought up in completely different backgrounds – when you’re playing football together you understand each other perfectly.

Just like with those lads by the side of the road in Sierra Leone: as soon as we had a ball in front of us, we all wanted the same thing. Didn’t matter where we were or what the prize was: it was all of us together, just wanting to play and wanting to win. I can’t know what was happening in the rest of their lives. I don’t even know if they were all friends: they might have been fighting each other an hour later! But, while we were playing, they were all together, sorting themselves out as teams; and all of them up for a game. Wherever you are in the world, it seems to me, that’s what football can do.

This article first appeared in A Beautiful Game

by Tom Watt, published by Abrams Books, £19.95, it is reprinted with kind permission.

UNICEF’s work is a vital part of the attempt to lift children out of extreme poverty and to reach the Millennium Development Goals. In 2008, UNICEF led or joined emergency responses in 78 countries, reaching 15.2 million children with health care, 5.6 million with water, sanitation and hygiene interventions, 4.3 million with nutrition supplementation and half a million through protection initiatives. UKaid from the Department for International Development provided $212m for UNICEF last year

a sporting chance International soccer stars harnessing their wealth and fame to fight poverty. Roundup by Geoff Crawford.

Marcel Desailly

www.oafrica.org/ www.laureus.com/foundation

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Manchester City & Wales In 2007 Craig Bellamy visited a friend in Sierra Leone, best known for its ‘blood diamonds’ and a nine-year civil war. Despite the poverty and desperation he saw the potential for a project that could offer hope. The Craig Bellamy Foundation was born with the aim of inspiring personal and social development through the power of sport. The foundation now boasts a network of nationwide football development leagues with 1,600 registered members, aged 10-14 in order to encourage school attendance players have to be going to school. Further leagues for girls and disabled youngsters are being planned. Alongside the league will be a state of the art football academy designed to offer the best in coaching and education. http://craigbellamyfoundation.org

Didier Drogba

© Stu Forster/Getty Images

Chelsea & France Marcel Desailly, though born in Accra, Ghana, was raised in France

by French adoptive parents. Having retired from football, he has now made his home in his birth country, where he is closely involved in a number of charitable projects. He is an official ambassador for OrphanAid Africa, taking a close interest in a facility OA has set up outside Accra supported by the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation. Here youngsters learn sporting skills and life skills hand in hand. Desailly is keen to point out that this is not a hothouse to raise young football stars for Europe “What I see is missing here in Ghana is facilities for sport, not for an academy, but for the community.”

Craig Bellamy

Chelsea & Côte d’Ivoire In January 2007 Didier Drogba was appointed a goodwill ambassador by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) joining soccer legends Ronaldo and Zinédine Zidane.

Drogba has a particular concern for his home continent, Africa.

“I don’t forget my origins,” he said.

“I have been given opportunities to succeed in life, but I constantly think about the ones who did not have this chance. We all need to contribute to help defeat poverty.”

The Chelsea striker is also founder of the Didier Drogba Foundation which addresses healthcare and education issues in Côte d’Ivoire.

Drogba recently pledged a £3m donation to fund the building of a hospital in Abidjan. www.thedidierdrogbafoundation.com

© David Turnley/Getty Images

Nwankwo Kanu

www.kanuheartfoundationng.com

Lucas Radebe

Leeds United & South Africa Lucas Radebe is FIFA ambassador for the SOS Children’s Villages, an international social development organisation active in the field of children’s rights. SOS Children’s Villages works in 132 countries, providing a stable family environment for children without parental care or whose families are are in difficulty. www.sos-childrensvillages.org © Michael Steele/Getty Images

Portsmouth & Nigeria Nwankwo Kanu’s highly successful career almost ended just as he was getting established. By the age of 20, he had won the Champions League with Ajax and an Olympic gold medal with Nigeria. Further honours beckoned as he joined Inter Milan in 1996, but a routine medical revealed a faulty aortic valve in his heart. Surgery may have saved his life, but certainly saved his career. So grateful was he that he set up the Kanu Heart Foundation, using his fame and wealth to provide life-saving heart surgery for underprivileged African children and young adults. So far, Kanu’s foundation has funded over 400 heart operations. “I recognise that I have been blessed not only in my football career, but also with the gift of a second chance in life,” said Kanu.

Patrick Vieira

Manchester City & France Patrick Vieira is one of the high profile supporters of the Diambars Institute, a pioneering academy providing African boys with a first class education and a chance of making it in professional football.

Born in Senegal, Viera wanted to give something back to the country of his birth. Founded by Bernard Lama and Jimmy Adjovi-Boco, team-mates at French clubs Lille and RC Lens, Diambars was launched in Saly, Senegal in 2003. Football is used as the driving force for education at the institute. Lama says that while the aim is that at least 20% of Diambars’ students will go on to become professional football players. “We want to guarantee that those who don’t can still become champions in life.” www.diambars.org

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Ghana Population 23.3 million Average life expectancy 59 years Average per capita income $1,349 In 1957 Ghana was the first African nation to achieve independence. However, soon after it fell victim to corruption and mismanagement and coups. A 1992 constitution ushered in a new period of democracy, and Ghana has since had five freeand-fair elections. Cocoa is an essential part of Ghana’s economy (it is also the world’s second-largest producer of gold), and the discovery of offshore oil reserves is encouraging expectations of an economic boost. Although about a quarter of Ghanaians still live below the poverty line, Ghana has one of the fastest rates of poverty reduction in Africa. The UK government’s priorities in Ghana are: governance, health and education.

Find out more www.dfid.gov.uk/ghana

Sulley Muntari competes for the ball against Pavel Pardo of Mexico during the International Friendly match between Ghana and Mexico. © Ryan Pierse/Getty Images 16 | DEVELOPMENTS 49

FIRST TO THE BALL Combative Inter Milan midfielder Sulley Muntari remembers what it was like growing up in Ghana and dreaming of a life in football.

irst of all, I had football in my family. My dad was a coach. I was born in Konongo, in the Ashanti region of Ghana, but he went to work as a coach in Nigeria. So we moved there and whenever he went along to take training somewhere, I’d go along to the training grounds with him. I’d be there, running around and kicking a ball on my own. That was when I was about five years old. I just loved football and that’s how it all started for me.

We came back to Ghana when I was about nine. I used to play football in the street with the kids who lived near us. The streets were dusty all the time; even the fields were hard, hard with no grass on them. I wasn’t out on the street all that much. We were poor, but not that poor. My mum tried her best to do everything for us and we weren’t poor like some of the street kids. She worked hard so that we didn’t have to go and find a job to get food. She made sure there was always food in the house. I think Mum saw me play football and she believed in me and helped me through any hard times I had.

There was a local team in Konongo and I trained with them, even though I was very young. Sometimes I’d play, but not often. They were big guys and I was just a boy. I couldn’t play in matches but they let me train with them.

I would get up very early in the morning, when it was still dark. By the time I had walked to the training ground, it would just be getting light, maybe around six o’clock. We’d train and then I would go home to have a shower and get ready for school.

And school? Well, I had a bit of a problem with my education. I didn’t want to go to school.

I skipped classes. The only class I wanted to go to was English, so I could improve my English, you know. I wanted to be able to express myself.

But that was the only class I’d go to. The others, I’d go off and play football instead. That was all I wanted to do. From very young, I had a belief I would make it as a footballer. I didn’t know when or how it would happen, but I had that belief. And I thought learning English would need to be part of a career.

I don’t remember when it was exactly – it was a long time ago! – but I can remember the first pair of boots I had. My mum got me a pair of Adidas boots. I was so happy. I slept with those boots.

I used to go to sleep with them in my arms. I just

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wanted the next day to come so I could go and play in the boots. I thanked God and I thanked my mum. I know I talk about my mum all the time, but you have to understand: she made sacrifices for us. A lot of my friends, when I was a boy, had to go out to work. If they didn’t, there would be no food to eat. So those boys didn’t have time to play football. Mum worked so we had the time. Dad was still in Nigeria, coaching.

So she had to do it all, look after the four of us, on her own. That’s why I could play. She was a very good mum.

We didn’t always have lights. We didn’t always have electricity. Back then, there might only be one TV in the local community. If you walked through Konongo, you could see people looking in the windows of houses, to see the TV. But I watched football on TV whenever I could, especially European football. There was a show on Monday nights, Sports Highlights, when they would show goals from around the world and I would try and watch that. There were one or two Ghanaian players playing abroad then – Tony Yeboah, Abédi Pelé – and they would show their games. Those guys were my heroes and they still are. I wanted to do what they had done.

They did a lot for Ghana too – they lifted our flag around the world.

I’m the oldest in the family. I have two younger brothers and a sister. My brothers play too.

You know, when I was starting to play and had to go to training, it might be five o’clock in the morning and I’d wake the younger one up.

He’d come along with me to the training ground.

We’d be there, alone on the field, kicking the ball. I’d throw the ball for him to do headers.

And if he didn’t do it well, I’d get angry with him. Not angry like I didn’t love him. I do. But that was the way my dad taught me and I was passing that on to my brother. He’s still in school now but both my brothers know how to play football. They’re very good.

Sulley Muntari joined Italian club Udinese at the age of 17, and later moved to Premier League club Portsmouth where he featured in the 2008 FA cup winning side. Internazionale snapped him up at the end of the season. In this article, he was talking to Tom Watt for A Beautiful Game published by Abrams Books and reprinted with kind permission.

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GOING FOR GOAL Millions of people, including celebrities, and football’s aristocracy, are being asked to sign up to the 1GOAL, campaign which aims to galvanise action to deliver education for all children. Brian Draper describes the kick-off.

he FIFA President Sepp Blatter has pledged to leave a lasting legacy of education in Africa by asking every football fan watching the World Cup this year, to sign their name to 1GOAL FIFA has joined with the Global Campaign for Education (a coalition of agencies, non-governmental organisations and teachers’ unions) along with many global football stars and celebrities, to create the 1GOAL campaign which aims to maintain pressure on the 164 governments who pledged, in 1999, to make primary schooling freely available to every child.

The pledge was made when each country signed up to the UN’s eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); goal two, specifically, states that every child of the right age should complete a full course of primary schooling by 2015, building on UNESCO’s global initiative, Education for All. Despite initial success – around 47 million children have been enrolled in school since the MDGs were signed – 72 million children are still denied a primary education. As the 2010 World Cup is the first ever to be held on African soil, FIFA is committed to contributing to education in Africa – especially important because 32 million of these children who don’t go to school are in sub-Saharan Africa.

Gary Lineker, England’s striking legend,

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supports 1GOAL and, at the Wembley launch last year, he said: “We know that education beats poverty. 1GOAL is bringing together fans around the world to demand education for all.

This World Cup is a moment for us to shine.”

Queen Rania of Jordan, co-chair of 1GOAL, also at the launch, said: “I’m proud to support the campaign. It isn’t asking for money, it’s asking for your name.” The idea is simple – to collect the names of as many fans as possible at www.join1goal.org.

The campaign has captured unprecedented support and political will across the world.

A multitude of global football stars, celebrities and world leaders are lending their support.

Kevin Spacey, Shania Twain, Bono and Kelly Rowland have all signed up to 1GOAL. The UN Secretary-General, Ban ki-Moon and Hillary Clinton pre-recordeded statements of support at the global launch last year. 1GOAL also has a galaxy of global footballing supporters, including Rio Ferdinand, Thierry Henry, Robinho, Michael Essien, Aaron Mokoena, Kanu, Nicolas Anelka, Mikael Silvestre and David James.

“We want to help every child to get into a classroom and grow up to be a doctor, teacher, parent or maybe even a football player,” explained Federico Addiechi, FIFA’s head of corporate social responsibility.

Footballers, including Gary Lineker, David James, Marcel Desailly, John Utaka, Gael Clichy, Nwankwo Kanu, Mikael Silvestre and Aaron Mokoena meet Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan at the launch of 1 Goal: Education For All campaign at Wembley Stadium. © Shaun Curry/AFP/Getty Images)

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the story so far

Since the Millennium Development Goals were signed, many countries have abolished school fees and increased spending on education.

Globally, an extra $4bn has been found for education, which means that 694 million children are now officially enrolled in primary systems across the world.

According to the Department for International Development (DFID), the abolition of primary school fees in Malawi, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya has helped more than a million children to enrol in each country.

However, the challenges remain daunting if the overall goal is to be met. While 87% of children of primary school age now attend school, the pace of change is too slow to ensure that all children of the right age will complete their primary education by 2015. For a start, a further 1.9 million teachers need to be found.

On current progress, 56 million children will still be denied a primary education by 2015.

Drop-out rates are also a huge obstacle to success: around 28 million children stop going to school in sub-Saharan Africa alone each year, some due to the impact of HIV and AIDS. Girls, in particular, find they have to leave school to care for sick family members, and this can create a vicious circle; education plays a significant role in the prevention of HIV. In fact, the education of girls in particular brings direct benefits for the health and prosperity of developing countries. In Africa, for instance, children of mothers who have received five years of primary education are 40% more likely to live beyond the age of five.

Overall figures suggest an improvement in getting girls to school globally – in 1999, only 92 girls were enrolled, for every 100 boys, while in 2007, the figure had risen to 96. Nevertheless, problems still remain, especially in West Asia, Oceania and sub-Saharan Africa, where female attendance is significantly lower.

Despite the challenges, momentum for the 1GOAL campaign is gathering ahead of the World Cup. At the Africa Cup of Nations in January, 1GOAL’s profile was raised significantly when the Confederation of African Football backed the campaign and asked for support from each of its member federations, as well as the players.

Activities have been planned in 200 countries leading up the World Cup final in July, and followers can keep track of developments on social networking sites such as Facebook. Anyone can add their name to the campaign online.

Find out more www.join1goal.org

Long-term goals DFID’s commitment to universal education The aims of the 1GOAL campaign are simple, and match those of DFID – ensuring that all children can get a good quality basic education. The UK government is committed to both Education For All and the Millennium Development Goals of achieving universal primary education by 2015 and equal inclusion of boys and girls at all levels.

The UK’s three strategic priorities are: • Ensuring access to basic education for all children, including those in the most difficult circumstances (such as those in ‘fragile states’ or states affected by conflict).

• Improving the quality of education, particularly core skills such as numeracy, literacy and problem solving.

• Providing skills to link young people to opportunities, jobs and growth.

School childern at the Winnie Ngwekasi Primary School in Soweto, South Africa.

We know that 2010 is a critical year for education if the MDGs are to be reached. The UK is helping to create a clear vision for action on education in 2010 – working with a variety of partners including through the G8 and G20, and with the private sector, faith groups and civil society. The goal is to drive progress towards a quality basic education for all.

© Stephane De Sakutin/ AFP/Getty Images DEVELOPMENTS 49 | 19

Afghan cricket coach Taj Malik surveys his concrete pitch in Kabul. Although the Afghan national team has been on a meteoric rise internationally, domestically the facilities are still minimal.

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out of the ashes The Afghanistan cricket team has emerged from refugee camps in Pakistan to challenge some of the game’s giants, and to bring a message of peace and normality. Former Kabul correspondent of the Times Timothy Albone has been following the team. All photos by Leslie Knott. hen the British marched into Afghanistan in 1838, they brought polo mallets, fox hounds and cigars.

They brought imperial hubris, bone china and cases of port. But the players of the Great Game also brought a great game: cricket.

One hundred and seventy-two years later, cricket has returned here, an outpost of the world’s most civilised sport in one of the world’s toughest places.

Today, having only had a national team since 2001, and the fall of the Taliban, the Afghan squad has achieved the unthinkable and qualified to play One Day International cricket, meaning they can face top teams such as England and Australia.

At the start of 2008 they were one of the lowest ranked teams in the world, below the tiny Pacific island of Vanuatu. Today they have climbed to 14th. Along the way the team has beaten cricketing powerhouses Ireland, Scotland, Bermuda and Namibia. They also chalked up victories against lesser-known cricketing nations such as Japan, Italy and Argentina.

In February this year, the squad traveled to Dubai to take part in the Twenty20 qualifier for the World Cup, to be held in the West Indies in May. They emerged victorious – winning five of their six games, including one against the USA – and attracting headline attention from the world’s media.

When you compare their achievements to that of Afghanistan’s soccer team, the country’s second most successful team, the triumph is all the more incredible. Post-Taliban the soccer squad has won only four games, including two victories over Kyrgyzstan.

Afghan cricket has its roots in the refugee

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camps of Peshawar, Pakistan, it was here during the 30 years of war that many Afghans fled.

Today smashed concrete is all that remains of the pitch; the outfield is a tangle of weeds, and lumps of piled-up dirt mark a boundary devoid of spectators.

Afghanistan Population 25 million Average life expectancy 43 years Average per capita income $335 Afghanistan sits at the crossroads of the Middle East, China and central and southern Asia. It was once the prosperous hub of one of the world’s most important trade routes, but following 30 years of conflict it is now one of the poorest countries in the world. Half of the population live below the international poverty line. The country’s economy is dependent on illegal opium cultivation, and insecurity across most of the country combines with a widespread fear of corruption.

The UK government’s priorities in Afghanistan are: to increase Afghan-led security until the country becomes stable; to make government more effective and reduce corruption; to create jobs and encourage economic growth; to provide alternatives to poppy growing; to build regional relationships.

Find out more www.dfid.gov.uk/afghanistan

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“I started cricket here,” says Hasti Gul Abid, a fast bowler and middle-order batsman. He leans down to kiss the earth of the Kacha Gari refugee camp cricket pitch. Here in Pakistan, stateless and far from home, a group of young Afghan boys used to throw a ball around, and an unlikely source of national pride was born.

Life was tough, in the camps which held up to 30,000 people, with very few facilities. Not even a tennis ball.

“We’d make cricket balls out of anything. Cloth from a shirt, wrapping it round and round,” recalls middle-order batsman Raees Ahmadzai. “And we’d cut trees and lay down bark for a wicket. We’d have two shoes for stumps, and if the ball went through the middle, you’d be out – otherwise the batsman would play all day and no one else would get a chance.”

A decade on, and Afghanistan’s citizens have little to cheer about. But Hasti Gul and his Afghan compatriots in Pakistan have, against all odds, become national heroes. Idolised in a country with little else to admire, their extraordinary journey has taken them from that concrete pitch back to Afghanistan and all the way to the grassy battlefields of world-class cricket.

Hameed Hassan, one of the stars on the team, summed up what cricket meant to the team. After almost losing to the Cayman Islands in Argentina, a defeat that would have put them of the competition, he said: “I have seen people die and I have not shed a tear. But there is something about cricket that gets me here (pointing to his heart). Cricket is our chance.”

The nation has united behind the team. After a recent tournament in South Africa, thousands of fans flooded onto the streets of Jalalabad, a city in the east of the country and a hotbed of Afghan cricket talent. The players of the team were mobbed, soldiers fired their guns into the air in celebration, and the governor of the province treated them to a feast.

The players, who only last year have started to get paid, are determined to give something back to a country shattered by war. Some of the players are opening cricket academies and Raees Ahmadzai has set up the Afghan Youth Cricket Support Organisation (AYCSO), a charity supporting grassroots cricket among Afghan youngsters.

In September last year, 50 boys took part in a two-day training camp hosted by AYCSO. The camp was funded by UNICEF, and coincided with activities leading up to Peace Day on 21 September. The camp was also used to raise awareness about the 20th anniversary of the Convention of the Rights of the Child – rights which include: education, health, protection, participation and identity.

The Afghan Cricket Board, lent their pitch, and Afghan team captain Nawruz Mangal, and fast bowler Dawlat Ahmadzai also took part. The 50 children were so happy to be coached by the their heroes. “It has been our dream to meet with the national team players” said Bilal Zazi, 14. “I feel very lucky to be taught by them.” The MCC and UK charity Afghan Connection are working with the AYCSO to hold ‘Spirit of Cricket’ camps around all provinces of Afghanistan over the next three years.

Raees Ahmadzai wants the camps to try and bring hope to the youth of Afghanistan. He hopes use sport, cricket in particular, as a means to inspire children to build a life away from violence. He believes that through sport peace can be bought to his country. It is a noble, lofty aim. But one he backs up with action. This year, as well as his busy playing schedule, he will hold six camps including one for girls. He said: “I want to bring peace and stability to my country and I want to improve the future of cricket.”

In a country with so few positives the Afghan cricket team is a lonely beacon of hope.

Timothy Albone spent three years as The Times correspondent in Kabul. He, Leslie Knott and Lucy Martens have been following the Afghan cricket team for two years, and are currently editing a documentary for the BBC and writing a book for Virgin Books on the team.

Find out more www.outoftheashes.tv

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Mohammad Nabi lifts Hastigul onto his shoulders after winning the first place trophy in the ICC Division 5 tournament in Jersey.

The Afghan national cricket team photographed before setting off for the ICC Division 5 in Jersey.

Afghanistan’s cricket captain Nawruz Mangal awards the Man of the Match award at the Peace Day camp held in Kabul last September.

Karim Sadiq stumps a Namibian opponent during the World Cup qualifying round in South Africa in 2009. Afghanistan didn’t make it to the World Cup, but they were awarded one day international status.

Children in the Afghan city of Jalalabad try out the feel of a cricket bat during the Spirit of Cricket camps that were held there in May 2009.

One of the lads who took part in the Peace Day camp in Kabul.

Children take part in a trial game during the Peace Day cricket camp.

Samiullah Shinwari and Ahmhad Shah take a moment to pray during training practice.

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Mumbai, Maharashtra state, India. Local school children take part in sports and games at an International Inspiration supported sports day. With many teachers often lacking formal PE experience, International Inspiration, a core strand of London 2012’s international education programme, has produced ‘Physical Education Cards (PEC) as a teaching guide, giving teachers the skills needed to give young people the chance to participate in sport and games. International Inspiration will use the power of sport to transform the lives of 12 million children and young people of all abilities, in 20 countries by 2012. © Rajiv Kumar/International Inspiration/India 2009

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LET’S GET PHYSICAL The London 2012 Olympic Games is targeting a legacy in which sport benefits disadvantaged children worldwide. James Hole reports. hat does a disabled child enjoying a physical education (PE) lesson in Jordan have in common with teenagers playing fast-paced cricket in an Indian slum? The link is International Inspiration – the London 2012 Olympics legacy project inspiring millions of children and young people across the world to take up sport.

Two of International Inspiration’s special ambassadors – former Olympic champion Denise Lewis and Paralympic gold medalist Dame Tanni Grey Thompson – have visited projects in India and Jordan to see for themselves how London 2012 is helping to widen young people’s sporting horizons.

In 2005, when he led London’s bid, former Olympian Lord Coe promised the International Olympic Committee that London 2012 would “reach young people all around the world and connect them to the inspirational power of the Games so they are inspired to choose sport”.

Already projects are running in Azerbaijan, Brazil, India, Palau, Zambia, Bangladesh, Jordan and Mozambique, with work beginning in Trinidad and Tobago and South Africa. There are plans for initiatives in 10 more countries and the aim is to bring sport within the reach

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of 12 million young people in 20 countries.

Visiting India, Denise Lewis found many children have no access to regular PE and sport. In particular, girls and disabled children lose out. The problem? People often see sport as a low priority in school. As a result, schools and communities lack trained coaches, while pitches and equipment are poor or non-existent. Against this, International Inspiration is supporting a national sport and PE drive by the Indian government to train 250,000 community coaches which will reach millions of children in schools and communities, regardless of income group or social class. In these seven areas across the country, the government has taken International Inspiration as a model, working with it to train coaches and improve sports facilities for children of all abilities.

Denise Lewis visited a pilot project in a small rural community in Chandrapur, meeting schoolchildren giving dance displays and teenagers playing handball. Until International Inspiration, most of these children had never handled a ball.

“We take it for granted in the UK that PE is an integral part of our lives,” she explains.

“But for a lot of these children it is a luxury.

This programme is about giving [them] the opportunity to get involved, to make a difference to their communities and use sport as a vehicle to change their lives.

“I have seen and experienced the transformative power of the Olympic Games, but here in India I have seen something truly special. Through International Inspiration, the Olympic and Paralympic Games have [made], and will continue to make a real and lasting difference to the lives of millions of young people in India and across the world, no matter their ability, social status or gender. This is a London 2012 legacy we can all be proud of.”

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n Jordan, exclusion from sport is a big issue – as Dame Tanni Grey Thompson found out when she launched an International Inspiration project. Due to cultural traditions and negative attitudes, girls in particular often lack the chance to play sport. International Inspiration uses sport both to tackle exclusion and build self-esteem in young people.

In Jordan it aims to reach over a million marginalised youngsters in three years.

At the Souf Palestinian refugee camp, Dame

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Tanni saw children who were born in the camp playing sport and understanding its effect on their lives. She also visited youth centres, including one for girls, and watched sports sessions run by young people for others their age.

“Although sport is very popular, Jordanian schools have limited sport facilities and do not yet provide inclusive PE lessons,” she said.

“There are few parks and playgrounds in the cities and even less in rural areas. This is in part due to the myriad of challenges linked to local cultural norms. The participation of girls, displaced children living in Palestinian refugee camps, disabled children and other marginalised children, in sport and play activities, is generally frowned upon.”

Alongside this, she said, “Many people don’t realise the importance of physical activity in the development of young people so little emphasis has been put into making sure that sport is part of the school curriculum. International Inspiration wants to change these attitudes.

“International Inspiration is using sport to provide young people with skills and knowledge

which transform their lives,” said Dame Tanni at the end of her trip. ”Simple things such as including children with disabilities in PE lessons, or giving young people the training and skills to become effective members of society – this is an Olympic and Paralympic legacy to be proud of.”

Find out more www.london2012.com/ internationalinspiration

International partnership International Inspiration is a partnership between UK Sport, Unicef and the British Council, targeting children and young people, their teachers and coaches – and often their governments. So far, it has raised £25m in funding, of which the Department of International Development (DFID) contributed £5.4m, and it aims to take the total to £50m by 2012 .

Denise Lewis joins in some games with a group of local children. © Rajiv Kumar/International Inspiration

Inspirational activities Extract from Dame Tanni Grey Thompson’s Jordan blog, November 2009 My first engagement is a Day 1 visit to Souf Camp – one of Jordan’s

Palestinian refugee camps with a population of over 20,000. The Souf Boys Elementary School sits within the camp and educates over 700 young boys aged between four and 16 years. Funding from International Inspiration has been focused on inclusiveness and has meant that there are now weekly sports sessions which fully involve disabled children.

In one of the sessions I meet a boy called Mouayyed Badran, who later takes me to his home. Mouayyed uses a wheelchair and he tells me that through these sports sessions he has been able to take part in PE activities alongside his friends. He was so enthusiastic, I was impressed

that something so simple is making such a difference to Mouayyed’s life.

Tanni Grey Thompson meets Mouayyed. © Salah Malkawi/International Inspiration

That afternoon I met His Royal Highness, Prince Ra’ed who is President of the Higher Council for the Affairs of People with Disabilities.

Because of his commitment to the inclusion of people with disabilities in all sectors, including sports, I am really hopeful that this is just the start of better integration in Jordan.

My next stop is the Hanninah Girls Sport Centre, where I meet with a group of adolescent girls, including two 17-year-old ‘young leaders’ called Anyod and Bayan. They have both been trained to run weekly sports sessions for girls their age and below, thanks to funding from International Inspiration. The training Tanni Grey Thompson observes a PE lesson at the UNRWA Boys’ school in Souf Camp. © Salah Malkawi/International Inspiration

has improved the girls’ confidence, their sports session was varied and included games designed to build concentration skills. I was happy to join in with their basketball skills although my dancing didn’t impress.

involvement in sport encouraged them to attend school, and they reinforced what I have long believed, that through sport, people can find the courage to try to achieve amazing feats.

The launch of International Day 2 Inspiration in Jordan – a very

Later, at the Queen Zain Girls National School I met with two young girls, Rawan and Sajida who enthusiastically introduced me to the [International Inspiration] funded leadership training programme they’ve taken part in, the skills from which they then pass on to their peers during classes. ‘Keep smiling’ was one of their mottos and they certainly did; their enthusiasm rubbed off on their peers.

important date for all involved.

This is a unique programme, and as part of the presentation, I spoke about my involvement and how sport has changed my life. I also met some Jordanian Paralympians who wanted to tell me how sport had influenced their lives. They believe that their

26 | DEVELOPMENTS 49

our turn to play

Organised sport is as good for women as it is for men, says Louise Tickle. All they need is the opportunity. magine going on an organised trek in the Himalayas. Your mind’s eye probably conjures up a team of fit, strong Sherpas carrying the kit. Bet they’re all blokes.

But there’s no reason why they should be.

Take Lucky Chhetri, and three sisters who founded the award-winning company 3 Sisters Adventure Trekking in the 1990s. It’s the only 100% female-owned trekking company in Nepal, training and employing solely women guides.

In Nepali society, guiding has always been a traditionally male job, and at first the sisters met stiff resistance. “People did not believe that women could be trekking guides,” says Chhetri.

Then, women only worked behind the scenes in menial jobs in the tourism industry. It was

I

considered an unfavourable job for women, because they should stay at home and were considered physically incapable of becoming a guide.”

Overcoming prejudice about whether women could succeed in a physically arduous and mentally challenging profession has been one of the three sisters’ proudest achievements.

So is the economic independence their female employees have gained, in addition to increased confidence, and much higher profile and respect in their communities.

These gains have been hard won, but the sisters had one enormous advantage: their father’s backing. “When I did the mountaineering course it was not the norm in my community,” says

Guides from 3 Sisters Adventure Trekking scale the heights. © EWN/3 Sisters Adventure Trekking

DEVELOPMENTS 49 | 27

Chhetri. “However, my father firmly believed that girls should do what they want to do, rather than conform to stereotypes. Unusually at the time, he wanted all his daughters to be bold, self-confident and capable.”

Not all girls in developing countries can rely on this kind of encouragement – and without family support they will often struggle to take part in organised physical activity, particularly as they enter adolescence.

Of course, wherever you are in the world, it’s still something of a surprise to see girls kicking a football. But, for a complex swathe of reasons, in many developing countries it’s hard – sometimes even dangerous – for girls to take part in any sport at all, says Marianne Meier at the Swiss Academy for Development, whose main research area is gender, sport and development.

It is now being recognised, however, that if girls and women can be enabled to engage in sport, the activity itself and the regular access it offers can be a prime method – as with 3 Sisters Adventure Trekking – of realising a whole suite of development goals.

At Royal Holloway, University of London, Dr Alison Woodcock has undertaken research with Órla Cronin and Patrick Leman, supported by the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation.

They have been looking into young people’s engagement with sport in Europe, Africa and South America. She says, ”It’s not just the sport that makes the difference to the lives of women.

All the best projects for women have a wealth of other activities going on.

Kenyan schoolgirls moving the goalposts. © Peter Ndolo

28 | DEVELOPMENTS 49

“I play during my monthly period.

Nobody can know because I put cotton wool then two pairs of underwear and then biker shorts.

Some girls don’t want to play during their period but they don’t say why.” Juliet

“They may provide opportunities to learn about reproductive health, how to speak in front of a group, organise a training session, a trip or tournament, read and write, prepare a job application, use a computer and so on, depending on the needs of their membership and the local context.

“One of the most important factors for young women,” she points out, “is joining an organisation where they can be with other young women who have achieved something and taken control over their lives “And good leadership can bring out leadership potential in others, so that leaders are groomed from within the organisation and a culture of striving, learning and developing filters down through the membership. So learning to referee a football match, score a goal or climb a mountain is only half the story – these achievements are a metaphor for what can happen in life outside sport.”

Careful work to discover what problems girls face if they want to take part in sports activities is crucial. They face multiple barriers: lack of leisure due to family or work duties; safety concerns when travelling to and from the venue; the risk of sexual abuse from coaches; lack of suitable spaces and equipment including sanitary-ware; few female role models, and cultural disapproval. Without help, these are unlikely to be overcome.

Working gradually to remove, or at least lower, these barriers, has been the approach taken by Sarah Forde, who in 2001 founded Moving The

“Every day I do the domestic work.

But when it reaches the time to practise, I go to the field since my parents understand that I have to practise.

When I come back from the field, I finish the work.” Mbeyu

3,000 girls in Kilifi are now playing football. © Claire MacKintosh

All quotes are by teenage girls living in Kilifi District, Kenya, interviewed by Sarah Forde for her book Playing By Their Rules available from www.mtgk.org/playing-by-their-rules

Goalposts, a girls’ youth sports and development programme in Kilifii District, Kenya.

A trained football coach herself, Forde decided to use football as a means of tackling gender inequalities specifically because to have females participating in that particular sport would in itself throw up questions about what was a suitable activity for a girl.

Eight years on, using peer recruitment and intense mentoring of those who have come to training sessions, Forde says that 3,000 girls in Kilifi are now playing football. But the project is about far more than sport: girls are organising sporting fixtures, learning to take authority as referees and training in first aid.

A linked peer education and counselling programme offers additional information and support as the girls navigate what Forde describes as their “very difficult and complicated lives.”

Most Moving the Goalposts staff members have by now been recruited from young women who have come up through the project, says Forde, whose book, Playing By Their Rules, details the experiences of teenage girls she has met through the project. Others have gone on to do teacher training and two are working as security guards.

Not all the girls who take part will necessarily have this kind of concrete outcome, Forde explains, but she hopes that they will feel more able to take an active role in their communities through the confidence they’ve gained. “What I would like to see is that those girls and young women become more influential in terms of policy and local leadership positions, those things that affect more people.”

So what strategies work to get girls and women from developing country communities involved in sporting activities, and what don’t?

Promoting the gender neutrality of different sports is one, says Meier. “Balls and boxing gloves etc are just stuff. The gender stereotypes

linked to different sports are constructed in the heads of people, they are not fact and this needs to be communicated at all levels,” she says.

Claiming the right for girls and women to exercise safely in public spaces is another, she suggests, as is recognising that imposing “an inappropriate sport on a community can be counterproductive, endangering the whole programme and the girls involved.”

“The culture of the organisation is absolutely critical to the recruitment and retention of female members”, says Dr Woodcock.

“If the organisation has a structure dominated by males and an environment where it is acceptable for boys to see girls only as potential partners or objects of ridicule, then the girls are not going to develop the confidence and leadership qualities we have been talking about.

“I’m not saying it’s impossible to integrate young women and young men in one sporting organisation – I’m just saying that it needs to be done with careful planning, so that the women are respected and have an equal role in decision-making.”

Where women are enabled to use the physical strength and mental resilience that a fit, active body can create, it seems that their lives can take a dramatically different turn.

At 3 Sisters Adventure Trekking, Lucky Chhetri says that for many of her guides, it is apparent that “for first time in her life she is independent and self-supporting, and is often able to help other family members financially. Some women find that it gives them the opportunity to pay for their further education as well.

“Their new knowledge and skills enable them to confront and transform stereotypes and discrimination that have hindered Nepalese women for hundreds of years.”

“I started playing again when the baby was three months old. Sometimes I would go with my baby for practice because she was very good and wouldn’t disturb me.

I was then invited for football coach training in Nairobi and I had to leave the baby in Kilifi.

I left her with my mum. My mum knew I was now happy because I was playing football again.” Janet

Find out more www.3sistersadventure.com/ www.laureus.com/foundation www.mtgk.org/

DEVELOPMENTS 49 | 29

College of Social Sciences

International Development Department

Some issues are too big to ignore The International Development Department (IDD) is dedicated to poverty reduction through the development of effective governance systems. We are a leading UK centre for postgraduate study of international development, and we also do practical, hands-on development work with governments and organisations around the world.

Taught Masters International Development (MSc / Graduate Diploma) Specialist pathways in: - Poverty, Inequality and Development - Conflict, Security and Development - International Political Economy and Development - Governance, State-building and Development - Urban Development Development Management (MSc /

Graduate Diploma) Specialist pathways in: - Public Economic Management and Finance - Aid Management - Human Resources and Development Masters in Public Administration

Learn more: www.idd.bham.ac.uk or contact: On-campus: Postgraduate Admissions Manager Debra Beard +44 (0)121 414 5034 d.l.beard@bham.ac.uk or Distance learning: Linda Curry +44 (0)121 414 4969 distancelearning@contacts.bham.ac.uk quoting reference “DFID”

Distance Learning Public Administration and Development

(3 in takes per year) Poverty Reduction and Development

Management More distance learning programmes are planned and will be announced shortly on our website.

Degrees by Research MPhil and PhD Our activities In addition to teaching, IDD academics are involved in international research, evaluation, consultancy and training for agencies such as DFID, Danida, African Development Bank, European Commission and United Nations.

Our activities encompass Policy advice to donors and to developing and

transitional countries Academic research into cutting-edge

development issues Consultancy and evaluation work Tailored training for the public, donor and

voluntary sectors Knowledge management and information

dissemination Teaching and training of development leaders

and practitioners

IDD hosts two information services: Governance and Social Development Resource Centre www.gsdrc.org Providing access to the best thinking and research on governance, conflict and social development.

Global Facilitation Network for Security Sector Reform www.ssrnetwork.net Facilitating the exchange of theory, research and best practice on security sector reform.

Bangladeshis want to learn English, and the mobile phone is providing a groundbreaking technological solution. Report by David Prosser of the BBC World Service Trust.

T

wo students gather around a mobile handset at a college in rural Kulna, Bangladesh. Shading themselves from the midday sun on a campus porch they begin rehearsing phrases in English like “What do you do?”, and “I work in IT”, using the loudspeaker on one of their phones.

As the lesson progresses, so too do their pronunciation skills, with nods and smiles suggesting a clear sense of achievement.

“Everybody should learn English. Yes it’s really

hard, but we have to try and make learning easy for ourselves,” explains Mimi, one of the two students. “We can’t carry a dictionary everywhere, but now we can carry a mobile phone that helps us to learn English.”

Ask them why they are keen to learn English and the answer is simple, it has become an essential part of their aspirations to get a good job. Shufal, the other student, is studying economics and hopes to work in finance: “If you want to work in banking or exporting you have

to know English. When foreign clients send you a letter or come to check the goods and you don’t know English then you won’t understand anything.”

Speaking English is no longer an ambition of the wealthy. 84% of Bangladeshis surveyed by the BBC said learning English was a top priority for their future and a staggering 99% want their children to learn. Over half of those we spoke to are in socioeconomic group D living on less than £2 a day. In countries like

Learning english in bangladesh

Anyone for English?

DEVELOPMENTS 49 | 31

Bangladesh Population 143 million Average life expectancy 64 years Average per capita income $1,870 Straddling the Ganges/Brahmaputra delta, Bangladesh is one of the most low-lying and densely populated countries in the world. Almost 20 million of its people are extremely poor and vulnerable to natural disaster. Bangladesh is striving to become a middle-income country with much reduced poverty. This is a challenge. The capital Dhaka is the second fastest-growing city in the world, and by 2035, Bangladesh’s population could reach 200 million. And with climate change, 40% of the country could flood during the monsoon season, compared with 25% today. The UK government’s priorities in Bangladesh are: making government more effective; giving people access to better health; education, safe water and improved sanitation; lifting people out of extreme poverty and reducing vulnerability to effects of climate change; and making growth work for everyone.

Find out more www.dfid.gov.uk/bangladesh

“There are no two thoughts about whether we need English or don’t need English, we need English, period.

That’s it.”

Bangladesh, English has lost its colonial baggage and become a vocational skill for anyone who wants to compete in the jobs market, or has the aspiration to connect with the wider world.

With over 50m mobile phones in Bangladesh, access to a handset is increasingly commonplace, even among poorer communities. But learning English on a mobile phone is something new. Recent growth in mobiles, combined with this national appetite to learn English, is the impetus behind BBC Janala (‘Window’), a pioneering service launched last November by the BBC World Service Trust.

By simply dialling 3000, anybody can access hundreds of English language audio lessons and quizzes. New classes arrive each week and are suitable for all levels of ability with ‘Essential English’ for beginners, ‘Pronunciation’ for intermediaries and ‘Vocabulary and grammar through stories’ for those more advanced.

All are rooted in the country’s culture and taught in Bangla and English.

The service costs 1 taka (1p) per minute, making each three-minute lesson less than the price of a cup of tea from a stall in Dhaka.

32 | DEVELOPMENTS 49

It is the first project of its kind anywhere in the world, and the response has been overwhelming, with half a million calls in the first few weeks alone.

Learning has also taken off online at bbcjanala. com, where a virtual community in the tens of thousands can access content for free, upload their profiles and interact with other learners in Bangladesh and in 90 countries around the world.

F

ollowing independence from Pakistan in 1971, Bangla was adopted as the language of instruction in all schools and colleges. The unintended consequence has been that language skills have waned over the last few decades, with English now the most commonly failed examination in school, and with little material to support teaching.

Poor teaching, coupled with a high dropout rate from school, means that the vast majority of young people have gone through the education system without picking up the ability to speak or understand spoken English. “English is taught as a subject and not a language. Rather than just learning grammar we need to make it

The bilingual presenters of BBC Buzz, a weekly youth TV show that places English at the centre of young people’s everyday lives.

easier to practise speaking to take away the fear of English,” explains Shufal.

To tackle the negative experiences many developed at school, the BBC has also created BBC Buzz, a weekly youth TV show that places English at the centre of young people’s everyday lives. Broadcast in a prime-time evening slot on satellite channel ATN Bangla, it mixes Bangla and English in comedy sketches, cartoons and discussions on issues such as climate change, arranged marriages and international politics.

As the country’s first primetime magazine show for young people, it represents a step forward for the media in a country recently restored to democracy after two years of emergency rule.

Rinku’s World, part of the show, is a cartoon following the ups and downs of a young office worker – Rinku – confronting his fear of English and love for his colleague Pinky. It links to audio lessons on mobile and web through BBC Janala.

“Buzz fits the mindset of young people today,” explains presenter Azra Mahmood. “It’s fast, stylish and full of what we want to watch.”

Audience figures back this up – in November 2009, within three weeks of the show’s launch,

BBC Buzz moved from fifth to second most popular programme in its primetime slot.

Quite an achievement for an English learning show playing out against popular dramas on a Friday night.

But will learning English necessarily lead to more jobs and boost Bangladesh’s economy?

A recent BBC survey suggested it can, with two-thirds of employers testifying to a yawning English skills gap in the job market, and a need for greater language competency to compete in the global marketplace.

Take the successful Tiffiny’s Wear garment factory in Dhaka which makes clothes for many of the international retailers on the local high street. Director Osama Taseer talks with pride of the growing export business in Bangladesh: “As business people, as Bangladeshis, we love our country so we want to do trade; we are not interested in aid. We want to have a decent living and we want to earn it.”

For his business to achieve its potential, Osama confirmed the increasing need for his employees to understand English – from the managers negotiating with clients through to

those receiving measurement instructions on the sewing floor. “There are no two thoughts about whether we need English or don’t need English, we need English, period. That’s it.”

Enabling Bangladesh to have the right skills to succeed in the global economy is the motivation behind the UK’s investment in BBC Janala, a key element in English in Action, an educational initiative launched by the Department for International Development (DFID) to raise the language skills of this country’s 27 million people by 2017.

By taking advantage of Bangladesh’s growth in mobile phones and television, BBC Janala is offering affordable English learning tools for the first time to millions of people, helping them with the chance of a better job and future.

It’s already paying off. There is now wide international interest, within the mobile industry and development agencies, in one of the first economically viable models using mobile to help deliver education to some of the poorest and hardest to reach in the developing world.

Find out more www.bbcjanala.com

DEVELOPMENTS 49 | 33

© LAMB Project/ Molly Thomas-Meyer

“My favourite job was working in the labour ward, delivering babies.”

“Community leader Abdul Aziz will oversee the clinic becoming entirely self-sufficient.”

Molly Thomas-Meyer with midwife mentor Sharin.

“The maternal mortality rate at LAMB community clinics is less than half the national rate.”

34 | DEVELOPMENTS 49

Transforming maternal health

personal development Working with LAMB, a hospital in north-west Bangladesh, convinced journalist-turned-medic Molly Thomas-Meyer she was doing the right thing, and that it’s possible for people to take health provision into their own hands.

I

n 2003, aged 29, I gave up my career in journalism to go into medicine. I graduated in July last year. When they learn about this career change friends invariably ask why.

Over the years, I admit I developed certain stock answers – I talked about helping people and it being a challenge and no two days being alike. But it bothered me that I wasn’t able to come up with a definitive reason. I tended to trail off with something like, “it just seemed like the right thing to do…”

But I didn’t actually experience this ‘rightness’ until December 2008. This was when I went on my ‘elective’ in Bangladesh – when I finally did hands-on medicine. It was this part of my training that forced me to examine my own development as a doctor in a place where people have long been asking ‘What is successful development, and how is it best achieved?’

The elective is a 6-8 week period when medical students are encouraged to travel abroad and immerse themselves in a totally different healthcare system. So it was that I ended up at the LAMB (Lutheran Aid to Medicine in Bangladesh) project. This was a hospital, set up by Lutheran missionaries 25 years ago, providing healthcare for mothers and children in a desperately poor part of the country.

Once I’d settled in to the hospital routine, my favourite job soon became working in the labour ward, delivering babies. Sharin, one of the midwives, guided me through the manoeuvres of labour. I took a deep breath and watched Sharin demonstrate, and then copied. Amazingly, my first baby popped out with no complications!

Finally I was not simply observing as a journalist, but doing something. True, I wasn’t changing the world – I’m pretty sure that baby would have popped out with or without my input – but still it was a change. A development.

I learned quickly that Bangladesh seems to have a peculiar healthcare provision for expectant mothers. There are many doctors and nurses, and the government hospitals are even supposed to be free, yet from my experience, and from talking to doctors and patients, the healthcare system apparently fails to deliver.

People described patients having to turn up at hospitals with all the medicines they’d need for their operation. They cited hospitals that don’t open in the afternoon, or having to pay porters to take them to the right wards.

And these were people who could afford to pay for their care. Many more cannot. This is borne out by the figures. Maternal death rates, according to UNICEF, are among the highest outside sub-Saharan Africa.

However, 25 years after LAMB introduced a new system in the north-west, its maternal

mortality rate is nearly 60% less than the national average. How? LAMB trains birth care attendants in the community and has set up an early warning system to prevent problems and recognise complications.

A system of clinics in the surrounding communities replicates a western-style ‘family doctor’ system. Maternal and neonatal death is often the result of poor nutrition, anaemia and infection, but these clinics provide preventative care such as vaccines and folic acid, checkups for expectant mothers, and education on basic healthcare. Crucially, they also have a referral system to the hospital for what cannot be solved in the clinic, reducing the number of complications from prolonged labour or gestational difficulties.

Health chart LAMB – Lutheran Aid to Medicine in Bangladesh.

A hospital and community health care project located in north west Bangladesh, 24km from the city of Dinajpur. It serves an area of 1-2 million people and consists of a main hospital and satellite clinics.

• Established in 1983 • Main hospital: 150 beds.

• 3,719 babies delivered at the hospital in 2007 • Community: 25 health care centres with 13 safe delivery units. The clinics cover 276 villages in the region.

• In 2007 the community clinic staff saw over 72,000 people and delivered 1,348 babies • Staff: 23 doctors, 98 nurses. In total over 600 personnel, including 200 in the community with a further 450 village health volunteers.

An antenatal visit costs on average around 9p, and a normal delivery is £1.50, so it is affordable.

And LAMB operates a subsidy system for those who cannot afford even this. The clinic system operates as a safety net mechanism to try and stop small problems becoming life-threatening emergencies. When the mothers come to the clinic or hospital for their delivery, they say their health is important to them, and worth paying for, and that they trust the trained staff at LAMB to achieve a good outcome. In a country where less than half of women seek antenatal care, this is an important goal.

After almost 30 years, the organisation of LAMB is now embedded in the community it serves, with 25 clinics in the region, each attuned to local needs. Every clinic is staffed by local people who receive training at the main LAMB hospital – as community volunteers, health workers or midwives. Many of the clinics also serve as local meeting points. Often they have microcredit

groups attached, because economic development will improve social and personal wellbeing.

On one of the last days of my elective, I visited Lohanipara clinic, which, while it has been in existence for 13 years, represents the next step for LAMB. Community leader Abdul Aziz has volunteered to oversee the clinic becoming entirely self-sufficient within two years. Abdul is a farmer with a background in local trade unions and local government. His plan is to use the profits from the sales of medicines at the clinic, and from the local LAMB microcredit group, to pay for the upkeep and salaries of the staff, and subsidies for treatment.

Why, I wanted to know, had Aziz taken on this task? “For two reasons,” he said. “First, I was impressed by the work LAMB has done in the community for many years, and how they have earned the community’s trust.

“Secondly, a few years ago, my sister-in-law had a prolonged labour. She was turned away from the nearby government hospital because we were couldn’t pay money upfront. But we were able to get her to LAMB where she had a caesarian, and both she and her baby survived.”

His community has now taken control of provision of their own healthcare – it is an inbuilt part of local life, which will improve the wellbeing of all the inhabitants. A recent Lancet article asked if the slow progress of some of the health Millennium Development Goals was due to the failure to encourage community care and participation in the healthcare system. LAMB seems to have bridged that gap by providing and encouraging an affordable and trustworthy system that delivers, time and time again.

And, on top of that, it has also captured the imagination of the community to see what they can do for themselves.

From my observation of its work on the ground, LAMB’S success is down to engaging people and making long-term intelligent plans about how to use available resources and local staff.

By establishing this foundation, the community first came to accept, then welcome healthcare provision – and ultimately direct it itself.

One dictionary definition of development reads: ‘growth or maturation. An unfolding of events; working out a problem. An elaboration.

An object realises its potential.’

This is what has taken place in north-west Bangladesh and it is mirrored in my own journey. I came away from Bangladesh seeing that – while development involves money and hard graft – long term success is about engaging people to recognise what works for them, and then helping them to achieve it.

Find out more at www.lambproject.org

DEVELOPMENTS 49 | 35

Hands on in Palestine Holy Land Handicrafts, based in the small Palestinian city of Beit Sahour, is a producer cooperative of artisans working in traditional crafts such as olivewood carving and mother-of-pearl inlay.

Nimir Rishmawi, a lifelong craftsman and current president of the cooperative, says that between the global economic downturn and the effect of the Israeli separation wall, times are hard. “Most of the wood we use comes from the northern West Bank, from Jenin and Nablus, and getting it here has become an agony with the wall and the checkpoints. And the recession has hit the tourist industry badly, so most visitors just come from Israel for a day, they don’t buy anything here.”

But George Rishmawi, Nimir’s son and fellow coop member, says that the just terms of trade which this World Fair Trade Organisation (WFTO) member cooperative secures for producers encourages young Palestinians to learn wood carving, helping to preserve their cultural heritage. “Being a fair trade cooperative has made it easier for us to attract customers, including organisations like Oxfam and Serve International” says Rishmawi.

Fair trade income has also helped to stem the flow of educated Palestinians leaving the area and to persuade members of the Christian minority not to emigrate – a problem which has been reducing the diversity of the historically mixed local population. Holy Land Handicrafts, says George Rishmawi, combines local crafts with high-tech sales and communications, so it can attract workers with modern skills as well as traditional ones. “Email has saved us a lot of money,” he confirms, “and now Voice Over IP software enables us to make international sales calls at very low rates.”

Find out more www.holyland-handicraft.org

Olive wood carving, Bethlehem. © Holyland Handicraft

36 | DEVELOPMENTS 49

“Fairtrade projects divert people, especially young men, away from violence into productive activities, and give more of them a real stake in peace and stability.”

Sher Ghazi, chairman of Mountain Fruits Fairtrade company, with apricot trees, northern Pakistan. © Tropical Wholefoods

TRYING TO BE FAIR

Can the principles of fair trade work in dangerous conflict zones?

Sarah Irving finds some brave examples.

I

n Colombia, farms growing Fairtrade certified roses provide homes and jobs for families fleeing areas still blighted by the civil war. The workers are unionised, and there are creches, schools, clean water supplies, and equipment for disabled people.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a Fairtrade deal with Sainsbury’s supermarkets now offers decent prices to the 1,300 members of the Sopacdi growers cooperative. Unrest in the DRC has made coffee growers so desperate to sell their produce that up to a thousand have drowned each year trying to smuggle beans across Lake Kuvu into Rwanda.

And in Somalia, essential oil exporters have

been working with semi-nomadic Samburu pastoralists, who mainly live off their herds of cows, sheep, goats and camels. Samburu women supplement family incomes by gathering frankincense resin from desert trees and selling it to middlemen. Organic certification from US and European bodies allows them to get premium rates for their products, which are used by cosmetics and perfume companies.

They are also working towards Fairtrade certification standards.

The Department for International Development’s (DFID) 2009 White Paper, Eliminating World Poverty: Building our Common Future, praised the role of trade –

especially fair trade – in tackling conflict.

And research by organisations such as Swisspeace suggests that Fairtrade projects – with their economic benefits and built-in elements such as social care and education – can help to prevent or alleviate conflict situations. They divert people, especially young men, away from violence and into productive activities, and give more members of society a real stake in peace and stability.

But the White Paper also acknowledged the challenges of carrying out fair trade with communities in fragile and failed states.

“Conflict and weak governance... force out the investment and entrepreneurship needed to

DEVELOPMENTS 49 | 37

help lift economies, create jobs and transform prospects for people.”

Kate Sebag of London-based Tropical Wholefoods is intimately acquainted with the problems of trying to trade fairly in conflictaffected areas. She is familiar with the delays that stem from checkpoints and areas under disputed control, and the risks to international staff and consultants. “We started off working in a country affected by conflict, Uganda in the 1980s,” she says. “It’s not deliberate, but we want to bring markets to farmers who would otherwise struggle to find them, so we do end up working in areas that are isolated and have political problems.”

Today, they import fairly traded produce from two of the most high-profile conflictaffected areas in the world – Afghanistan and northern Pakistan.

The company has a well-established relationship with farmers in northern Pakistan, particularly in Gilgit, and buys Fairtrade certified almonds, walnuts, apricot kernels and dried apricots from them. It has also branched into ingredients for products labelled under the Fairtrade Foundation’s new beauty products standard, including crushed walnut shells for Boots body scrubs, and apricot kernel oil, sold to Neals Yard.

Recent disturbances which have affected Pakistan have not yet had major consequences for the farmers supplying Tropical Wholefoods, says Sebag. “Gilgit goes under curfew every so often,” she says, “but they’re quite nonchalant

Women fruit producers, northern Pakistan. © Tropical Wholefoods

38 | DEVELOPMENTS 49

Fair trade or fairly traded?

The word Fairtrade is a registered certification referring to products meeting international standards for the just terms given to the developing world farmers that produce them.

But only a limited range of product types, such as some foods, cotton and beauty products, have established criteria. There are currently no standards for items like handicrafts and toys, so the term ‘fairly traded’ is used for goods such as these, where craftspeople are also given good deals. Many such producers are members of the World Fair Trade Organisation (WFTO).

about it. Last time there was a bomb I wrote and asked if everyone was all right and they said, ‘Yeah, fine, we had a curfew but it’s back to normal today’.” But, admits Sebag, it is a constant worry for importers like her if shipments are threatened.

Many of the third party certification inspections which the company’s Pakistani producers undergo to get Fairtrade status are done by an expert from Sri Lanka who works right across the Indian subcontinent. But, to date, it has been considered too unsafe to send an inspector to Afghanistan to certify the company’s latest enterprise – raisins from the Shomali Plains north of Kabul.

Tropical Wholefoods, working alongside US NGO Mercy Corps, has spent several years investing in improving agricultural techniques in

villages like Bayan Ulya and Tutumdara-e-Sufla.

Grapes here are traditionally grown draped over mounds of earth, which leads to much of the fruit being lost to mould, so trellising has been introduced. A nearby factory has been upgraded to dry the fresh fruit, according to Richard Friend of Fullwell Mill, the Sunderland-based company which packages Tropical Wholefoods’ imports.

“But first the factory owner had to wrest it back from a local warlord,” says Friend. “When we first visited there were still howitzers stationed around it.” He also regrets that the first areas he visited in Afghanistan, in Kandahar in 2006, have simply become too dangerous to work in at the moment.

Back in London, Kate Sebag is optimistic about the project. “Afghan raisins used to have a reputation as the best in the world, right up until the Soviet invasion,” she says. “Some of the older people in the fruit industry here are really excited to hear what we’re doing. But getting Fairtrade certification will be critical to building volume sales.”

Although inspectors have still not been able to visit the producers that Tropical Wholefoods sources from, in February they were granted a Fairtrade Foundation ‘exemption’ allowing them to label the raisins with the all-important logo.

Find out more www.tropicalwholefoods.co.uk www.fairtrade.org.uk www.wfto.com

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