Culture & Media

FIFA selects Swedish technology

africasc_admin — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 01:00:01 -0500

JOHANNESBURG. FIFA has selected tracking technology developed by Swedish Tracab to monitor, record and analyse every run, pass, shot and save at the Confederations Cup, currently under way in South Africa, and next year’s FIFA World Cup.

It's the first time that world football’s governing body has deployed a tracking system at its major tournaments and is an indication of the growing importance of data and data rights around football, the company said.

The Confederations Cup - which features the champions of each FIFA Confederation plus World Champions Italy - is a dress-rehearsal for next year’s World Cup.

Pippi takes her shenanigans to SA

africasc_admin — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 04:42:31 -0500

JOHANNESBURG. Pippi Longstocking – Swedish author Astrid Lindgren’s pigtailed creation is being staged as a musical at The National Children's Theatre (NCT).

The play has been adapted by Thomas W. Olson, and set to music by Roberta Carlson. So while Swedes familiar with he red-headed girl’s adventures will well recognize the plot, and be able to reminisce, American musical songs have also been added to the mix.

Pippilotta Delicatessa Windowshade Mackrelmint Ephrainm's Daughter Longstocking, lives alone in Villa Villerkulla with her horse and monkey Mr. Nilsson. She doesn’t go to school and nobody tells her to go to bed at night.

Pippi is a high-spirited, warm-hearted incarnation of every child's – dream of freedom and power, the theatre says, and as an adult, I have to add to this and say that Pippi is still my hero in this regard ;-)

SA schools vote for their rights

africasc_admin — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 08:43:13 -0500

JOHANNESBURG. Twenty-two million children in 50,000 schools in 94 countries are behind the World’s Children’s Prize for the Rights of the Child (WCPRC). This year the prize will be awarded for the tenth time. The 13 prize candidates include Nelson Mandela and Graça Machel, and the late Nkosi Johnson.

Millions of children will participate in this year’s Global Vote to decide who will be the Decade Child Rights Hero. Two million children in South Africa are expected to vote. On the 20th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 20 November, the children will reveal their chosen decade prize laureate.

Since the year 2000, the World’s Children’s Prize has awarded children’s prestigious prizes for outstanding efforts for the rights of the child. The prize money has contributed to giving tens of thousands of the world’s most vulnerable children a better life.

So far, 27 prize laureates have been awarded and have become role models for children all over the world. Thirteen of these laureates are candidates in the children’s next Global Vote, which will determine their Decade Child Rights Hero Three of them (see list below).

No other country has had as many WCPRC laureates as South Africa, and no other country has as many participating children in the WCPRC programme.

The WCPRC is the world’s largest educational programme for young people on the rights of the child, democracy, the environment and global friendship. The WCRPC programme empowers children, giving them hope for the future and the chance to demand respect for their rights.

It is carried out in cooperation with more than 50,000 teachers, as well as almost 500 organisations, departments of education and youth media projects.

Millions of vulnerable children participate

Millions of children learn about their rights and democracy through the World’s Children’s Prize. They include former child soldiers, debt slaves and street children. Children who have lost their parents to AIDS, genocide or in the Asian tsunami, and children who live in dictatorships, have also found out about their rights through the World’s Children’s Prize.

The prize magazine, The Globe, and the website, www.worldschildrensprize.org, is produced in 11 languages. The magazine is smuggled into villages in Burma and is read by former child soldiers in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, like 15-year-old Furaha:

“When I was twelve years old and a soldier, all I knew was death, violence and war. Now I have participated in the World’s Children’s Prize and in the Global Vote for our rights. Before I read The Globe I had no idea that we children had the right to protection and a good life.”
Furaha was one of the 6.6 million children who took part in the Global Vote in 2008.

The global patrons of the World’s Children’s Prize include Nelson Mandela, Queen Silvia of Sweden, Nobel Prize laureates José Ramos Horta and Joseph Stiglitz, former Executive Director of Unicef Carol Bellamy, former UN Under-Secretary-General Olara Otunnu, and supermodel and refugee Alek Wek.

The sponsors of the World’s Children’s Prize include Sida (the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency), Save the Children Sweden, the Swedish Postcode Lottery, the Surve Family Foundation, Altor, AstraZeneca, eWork and Banco.

In June 2008, the World’s Children’s Prize was called ‘the most important communication initiative on the planet’ by the International Association of Business Communicators, with 16,000 members in 65 countries.

The Decade Child Rights Hero will receive one million Swedish kronor (125,000 USD) for use in his/her work for the rights of the child.

South African Business Leader and Philanthropist Dr Iqbal Surve is a new patron of the World’s Children’s Prize. Other patrons in South Africa are Mr Ahmed Kathrada, HM Queen Mother Semane Bonolo Molotlegi of the Royal Bafokeng Kingdom, Minister of Education Naledi Pandor and former Minister of Education Kadar Asmal.

Fourteen-year-old Gabatshwane Gumede from South Africa represents children who are orphans because of AIDS in the international child jury of the World’s Children’s Prize. Iqbal Surve’s wife, Mrs Nadia Kamies, is a Goodwill Ambassador of the WCPRC to South Africa.

This school year it has been compulsory for all South Africa’s close to one million Ninth Graders to study the World’s Children’s Prize and its role for the rights of the child and democracy. The World’s Children’s Prize is the Common Task Assesment in Life Orientation, and counts for 25 % of the year’s mark in human rights, democracy and citizenship.

South Africa’s Minister of Education, Ms Naledi Pandor, in her annual letter to the country’s principals, encourages all South African schools to work with the World’s Children’s Prize and participate in the Global Vote.

The chair person of the World’s Children’s Prize Foundation, Mr Mark Drewell, is a resident of South Africa. He is a co-founder of the world's first deep sustainability asset management company 3 Laws Capital and an international thought leader on the role of business in society.

The 13 candidates for Decade Child Rights Hero

Iqbal Masih, Pakistan (posthumously)
Iqbal was a debt slave in a carpet factory. When he was set free he fought for the rights of debt slave children. He was killed on 16 April 1995.

Asfaw Yemiru, Ethiopia
Asfaw was a street child at the age of 9. At 14, he opened his first school for street children underneath an oak tree. Since then he has devoted over 50 years to giving underprivileged children the chance to go to school.

Nkosi Johnson, South Africa (posthumously)
Nkosi fought for the rights of children with HIV and AIDS up until his death at the age of 12.

Maiti Nepal
Maiti fights the trafficking of poor girls from Nepal to India, where they are forced to work as slaves in brothels. Maiti also helps girls who have been affected by trafficking.

Maggy Barankitse, Burundi
Maggy has, over 15 years, saved tens of thousands of orphaned children in war-torn Burundi and given them a home, love, schooling and a hospital.

James Aguer, Sudan
James has, over 20 years, freed thousands of kidnapped children from slave work in Sudan. James has been imprisoned 33 times and four of his colleagues have been murdered.

Prateep Ungsongtham Hata, Thailand
Prateep was a child worker at the age of ten. Since starting her first school at the age of 16, she has spent 40 years fighting to give the neediest children the chance to go to school.

Dunga Mothers, Kenya
Twenty mothers in Kenya, who for the past 12 years, have been fighting to enable AIDS orphans in their village to go to school, have a home, food, love, and have their own rights respected.

Nelson Mandela, South Africa and Graça Machel, Mozambique
Mandela for his life-long struggle for equal rights for all children in South Africa and his work to defend their rights. Machel for her 25-year-long fight for the rights of vulnerable children in Mozambique, in particular girls’ rights.

Craig Kielburger, Canada
At the age of 12, Craig founded Free The Children. He fights for young people’s right to make their voices heard and to liberate children from poverty and violations of their rights.

AOCM, Rwanda
AOCM consists of 6000 people orphaned by the genocide in Rwanda, who help each other to survive by sharing food, clothes, schooling, homes, healthcare and love.

Betty Makoni, Zimbabwe
Betty started working when she was five years old and was subjected to abuse at the age of six. Through the Girl Child Network, she empowers girls to demand respect for their rights. She supports girls who are subjected to abuse and protects others from assault, forced marriage and trafficking.

Somaly Mam, Cambodia
After being a sex slave as a child, Somaly has spent the last 13 years liberating girls from sex slavery and giving them rehabilitation and education. She was punished for her work when her 14-year-old daughter was kidnapped, drugged, raped, and sold to a brothel.

Media call for Swedish journo release

africasc_admin — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 06:49:28 -0500

JOHANNESBURG. The two main Swedish dailies published a call for the release of Swedish-Eritrean journalist Dawit Isaac. Isaac has been detained in Eritrea since 23 September 2001.

“Our request is very simple: free Dawit Isaac,” says the front-page headline said in the March 28 issue of Svenska Dagbladet, while Dagens Nyheter has the headline “Free Dawit Isaac!” under a graphic of 2,742 batons, one for every day he has been held.

Siem in Africa: “More meaning of life”

africasc_admin — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 08:30:01 -0500

JOHANNESBURG. Norwegian Kjetil Siem, who sees soccer as an important tool in achieving positive change, tells Africascan that what soccer supports has a big impact in Africa. We catch up with him a year and half into his stint as the CEO of South Africa’s Premier Soccer League (PSL).

“My passion for soccer is not based on football matches and scores … it’s more about what it means to people,” he says. “Through commercial deals from TV and partners, you have more money for the clubs ... and can provide academics, an education and a better life,” he says.

“Charity to give out money to that extent is not needed in Norway,” he says. “To facilitate things like that gives more meaning of life.”

Rud Pedersen Global Affairs enters sponsorship agreement with Africascan Media AB

africasc_admin — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 00:34:53 -0500

STOCKHOLM. The Swedish-Danish Public Affairs consultancy Rud Pedersen has formed a sponsor partnership with Africascan Media AB, the publisher of Africascan.com and Indiascan.net.

“These two newsletters are filling a gap in the market as they supply relevant news that is useful for companies entering two important emerging markets, Africa and South Asia. This kind of business information needs to be promoted as it inspires companies to do business in emerging markets”, says Roger Hällhag, MD for Rud Pedersen Global Affairs “we therefore see the value in sponsoring the publications and promote business with two regions, that – to the surprise of many – now are among the most dynamic”.

The combined services of Rud Pedersen and Africascan help to prepare the ground for large and small companies wanting to enter emerging markets. By reporting on business news and practices more companies will gain the necessary courage to move further away from their home shores to find new markets and new revenue.

Last month Rud Pedersen appointed Christer L. Pettersson, Africascan’s founder and publisher as its Director for South Asia. Mr. Pettersson, a former correspondent for Swedish business daily Dagens Industri and quality newspaper Dagens Nyheter, continues to oversee the development and publishing of the publications.

“Rud Pedersen, as political consultants, and the Scan-publications, have a common interest in finding ways for the Nordic public and private sectors to co-operate with Africa and South Asia. That is the raison d’etre behind our partnership. Another reason is that state sponsored trade facilitation agencies are not scouting around for all the business news that is around in these markets. So we do it for them”, says Christer L. Pettersson.

Said Mr. Hällhag:

“We deal with these exciting world regions, where growth and change happen right in front of your eyes. South Africa and India, in particular, are both Group 20 countries and both were relatively unaffected by bad debts. This suggests that growth will continue and these markets will become even more important for companies that otherwise operate in negative growth environments”.

Africascan.com’s monthly newsletter reaches some 4000 recipients, mostly decision makers and analysts dealing with government- and business between the Nordic countries and Africa.

Indiascan.net’s newsletter, about to be launched, will initially reach some 1000 decision makers in the Nordic countries and India.

SA wants Pippi to visit

africasc_admin — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 03:39:24 -0500

JOHANNESBURG. The South African State Theatre and the National Children’s theatre in Johannesburg would like to stage a Pippi Longstocking production - to teach children here a bit about her 'can do' attitude, and is appealing for some funds from the private sector to do it.

In 2008, the Swedish Embassy partnered with the SA State Theatre and brought the Pippi Longstocking exhibition to the theatre. The exhibition enchanted children and adults alike through Pippi books, costumes, games and toys. The exhibition was seen by over 3000 children over a period of 2 weeks.

The exhibition of pigtailed and brave Pippi created anticipation and excitement regarding the possibility of staging a full scale production. The theatres would like to stage the production at their respective venues for a period of 6 weeks collectively.

"We know the children will be mesmerized by the topsy-turvy world of brave and super strong Pippi Longstocking, as you know she is one of the most famous characters of Swedish children's book writer Astrid Lindgren," says Xoliswa Nduneni-Ngema, Chief Executive Officer, of the South African State Theatre.

"This will give South African children a chance to learn more about Pippi, where she comes from and hopefully this will open a different world for them. A world of bravery, creativity, individualism and ‘can do’ attitude," adds Nduneni-Ngema.

The theatres are appealing to Swedish businesses for assistance, as they don't have the resources to do it otherwise. The total budget is R120 000.

The SA State Theatre is a Cultural Institution, established under the auspices of the Department of Arts and Culture.

Nobel body boycotts peace meet

africasc_admin — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:41:21 -0500

JOHANNESBURG. The peace conference to host Nobel Peace Prize laureates here on Friday was cancelled after several of the dignitaries – including the Norwegian Nobel Committee itself - boycotted the meeting after South Africa denied the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader and a peace-prize winner, a visa to enter the country.

The conference was to bring together South African Nobel Peace Prize laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Former President Nelson Mandela and FW De Klerk as well as international leaders of peaceful reform. The meeting was to be held in Johannesburg as a preview to the 2010 World Cup Soccer games to be hosted by South Africa, and in connection with a football friendly between Norway and South Africa.

Members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee were quoted in the Norwegian press as saying that the committee would not attend the conference if the Dalai Lama was barred from South Africa.

SA voters unite against corruption

africasc_admin — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 08:09:37 -0500

JOHANNESBURG. Next month, South Africans go to the polls in what many see as the most important elections here since the first democratic elections in 1994.

While some South Africans are worried about what might be in store for the country if, or more likely when, ANC leader Jacob Zuma comes to power, the election concerns shared by Nordic business interests in South Africa might not be as party-, or candidate- oriented, guesses Robert Hermans, who heads up the South African division of Gunnebo, a Swedish company that supplies security solutions.

SA wildlife in Stockholm

africasc_admin — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 04:24:15 -0600

CAPE TOWN. At the wilderness fair in Stockholm this year, March 13-15, visitors will be able to visit a special travel destination exhibit – including diving in South Africa with White Sharks.