A gentleman working for an NGO came to visit us a few weeks ago. He’s leading a programme to create awareness around HIV/AIDS using football as the medium . Very smart, I thought, NGOs are making more use of the World Cup’s publicity than anyone else.
 

By Sarah Osman

The usual mantra

Sarah goes soccer!

Sarah Osman (1980) was born in Sudan, and has been living in the Netherlands for the past 11 years. She’s been working in the field of development cooperation for the past 3 years, and has recently decided to take her skills and knowledge back to Africa. Her first stop is Cape Town, South Africa. After her column Wanted! Home in Africa for RNW, Sarah goes soccer.  In this latest column, she will share with us her experiences of the build-up to the 2010 World Cup in Cape Town. Not the mainstream news, but background stories that often get missed in the euphoria of the big event.

 
There are countless international NGOs based in South Africa that have set up football-inspired programmes that aim to tackle all kinds of social challenges - Germany alone is supporting at least 12 programmes. “There are loads of NGOs who have identical programmes to the one I run, but we hardly work together. That’s mainly because there’s competition for funds,” our visitor told me. “But what exactly is the point if you’re not working together? How can you make sure that football will result in what you want if you don’t exchange information with each other?” I asked. “You’re right, but I just believe in the sport and I believe that it can make a real difference, so I put all my energy into what I do. I can see that it’s effective from the kids I work with.”

Boycott

“I’m boycotting the World Cup. I’m leaving the country in June and I’ll be back when the spectacle is over,” said an ardent socially active friend of mine. “All these NGOs can say whatever they want, but it doesn’t change the fact that people are being chased out of their homes in the informal settlements to make cities ‘prettier’ for the event and when they object, they are repeatedly bullied and harassed by the police and no one is saying anything about it.” Though he’s the eternal pessimist, I agreed with him this time. South Africa has an opportunity that will take decades for another African country to get and the government is co-funding NGO projects that use the money to set up clown and pantomime schools. South Africans need homes and jobs, not red noses.

Social change

Under the slogan of social change, kids in South Africa, as young as 12 years old, are being subjected to programmes that have no proof of being effective. This excerpt from a project run by another NGO that uses soccer as an educational tool illustrates my point: “One of the games played in the programme is called Risk Field. Children dribble between cones representing risks like unsafe sex or multiple partners. If a player hits a cone he or she has to do press ups and if it happens again the whole team has to join in. This teaches them that their actions have consequences not just for them but for other people. Using these games really brings it alive for these children and makes the education messages that much stronger.” We aren’t told who designs these programmes. Are they experienced psychologists? Probably not; if they were, they would know that instigating fear is not a useful technique in minimising risk-taking behaviour. Sadly, since no questions are asked, NGOs will continue to concoct programmes that are of no value to South Africans.