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Cape Town - Former United Nations secretary-general and chair of the Africa Progress Panel, Kofi Annan, and UN Development Programme goodwill ambassador and soccer star, Didier Drogba, have teamed up to produce an "alternative guide" to the 2010 Soccer World Cup.
Released on Wednesday, their "Scoring for Africa" guide - which can be viewed at Africaprogresspanel.org - highlights development issues between selected countries competing in the event.
The publication compares the "vital statistics" of each African country in the games against their competitors in terms of development - examining key indicators such as economic growth, CO2 emissions, access to education and human development.
It also provides a brief overview of the relationship or “match history” between the competitors, identifying “attempts on target” and “attempts off target” from a development perspective.
‘Yellow card’ for France
Among the matches the guide highlights is the France versus South Africa game, the real version of which is set to take place in Bloemfontein on June 22.
It "yellow cards" France for its support of the European Union's massively subsidised Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
"France is one of the main beneficiaries of the CAP, and historically has not been in favour of reforming it, even though these subsidies hurt African farmers, particularly in food-exporting countries like South Africa."
However, in terms of "attempts on target", France was "one of the biggest providers of development assistance to South Africa, giving €250m in 2008 alone".
The guide notes that although France remains one of the world's largest wine producers, South Africa is "catching up fast". It says South African wines have recently outsold their French competitors in several markets, including the United Kingdom.
Under "team statistics", the guide shows France's GDP is over nine times bigger than South Africa's, yet South Africa's carbon dioxide emission are the greater - at 7.2 million tons, versus France's 6.5 million tons.
Fair play
Looking at other games, the guide notes that when it comes to Nigeria vs Argentina: "The average life expectancy in Nigeria is 48 years, compared to 75 years in Argentina."
For Côte d'Ivoire vs Brazil: "Women in Côte d'Ivoire are eight times more likely to die as a result of child birth than their Brazilian counterparts."
And for Algeria vs the USA: "Algeria is contributing only 0.32% to the world's yearly CO2 emissions, while the USA contributes nearly 16% making it the world's second-largest carbon emitter after China."
In the foreword, Annan and Drogba state: "We passionately believe that fair play should not be limited to the way countries play, run and score against each other, but also the way they do business and politics with each other."
They say the spirit of the World Cup should extend into countries' economic and political relations; and that "the celebration of our common humanity should not be limited to one month every four years".
Released on Wednesday, their "Scoring for Africa" guide - which can be viewed at Africaprogresspanel.org - highlights development issues between selected countries competing in the event.
The publication compares the "vital statistics" of each African country in the games against their competitors in terms of development - examining key indicators such as economic growth, CO2 emissions, access to education and human development.
It also provides a brief overview of the relationship or “match history” between the competitors, identifying “attempts on target” and “attempts off target” from a development perspective.
‘Yellow card’ for France
Among the matches the guide highlights is the France versus South Africa game, the real version of which is set to take place in Bloemfontein on June 22.
It "yellow cards" France for its support of the European Union's massively subsidised Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
"France is one of the main beneficiaries of the CAP, and historically has not been in favour of reforming it, even though these subsidies hurt African farmers, particularly in food-exporting countries like South Africa."
However, in terms of "attempts on target", France was "one of the biggest providers of development assistance to South Africa, giving €250m in 2008 alone".
The guide notes that although France remains one of the world's largest wine producers, South Africa is "catching up fast". It says South African wines have recently outsold their French competitors in several markets, including the United Kingdom.
Under "team statistics", the guide shows France's GDP is over nine times bigger than South Africa's, yet South Africa's carbon dioxide emission are the greater - at 7.2 million tons, versus France's 6.5 million tons.
Fair play
Looking at other games, the guide notes that when it comes to Nigeria vs Argentina: "The average life expectancy in Nigeria is 48 years, compared to 75 years in Argentina."
For Côte d'Ivoire vs Brazil: "Women in Côte d'Ivoire are eight times more likely to die as a result of child birth than their Brazilian counterparts."
And for Algeria vs the USA: "Algeria is contributing only 0.32% to the world's yearly CO2 emissions, while the USA contributes nearly 16% making it the world's second-largest carbon emitter after China."
In the foreword, Annan and Drogba state: "We passionately believe that fair play should not be limited to the way countries play, run and score against each other, but also the way they do business and politics with each other."
They say the spirit of the World Cup should extend into countries' economic and political relations; and that "the celebration of our common humanity should not be limited to one month every four years".
