It is not only footballers’ goals that count in this year’s World Cup. In Pretoria, the Belgian Christophe Verhellen is coordinating a UN campaign coinciding with the tournament and designed to boost the profile of the Millennium Development Goals and the fight against poverty. For that campaign, Christophe teamed up with eight prominent African musicians, including Yvonne Chaka Chaka and Baaba Maal. Their alternative World Cup song, 8 Goals for Africa, aims to educate millions of football fans about the Millennium Development Goals. The song’s refrain is certainly very stirring:
“Time is tick, tick ticking
It’s ticking away
There’s no time to delay
The Africa we dream of
Only 8 Goals away”
Belgian Development Cooperation
“As a Belgian UN volunteer, I’m incredibly proud to have been given the opportunity to contribute to the attainment of the Millennium Goals,” said Christophe Verhellen, who has been working on the campaign since 2008 at the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) in Pretoria. “So when offered the chance by Belgian Development Cooperation, I grabbed it with both hands."
Introducing the Millennium Goals to the public
Thanks to many years of experience in producing and directing entertaining TV programmes, Christophe Verhellen was placed in charge of realising the entire UNIC campaign,, from the idea of releasing the song 8 Goals for Africa to contacting the musicians, implementing the communication strategy and following up the initiative. As Verhellen himself said, “the 8 Goals for Africa campaign will not end with the song and the campaign. After all, its main aim is to convey the message of the Millennium Goals to the public.”
An alternative song
The song 8 Goals for Africa and its accompanying video are being broadcast throughout the World Cup in South Africa, including on the giant screens set up for supporters. In addition, the musicians will be performing the song live at several World Cup games and at the closing ceremony on 11 July, the day of the World Cup final in Johannesburg.
Free download
The song 8 Goals for Africa can be downloaded for free from www.8goalsforafrica.org or via iTunes. The campaign target is 1,000,000 downloads.
See also Kingdom of Belgium Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation
