By: Ian Sullivan
This summer, we’ve had the pleasure of enjoying a nail-biting World Cup full of suspense, thrills, and triumphs. The World Cup has also been a mechanism that has united fans within countries and continents, resulting in an unwavering passion for one team, and ultimately one sport – football.
We wanted to turn all of that into something genuinely world changing. We wanted to connect with football fans around the world and give them the chance to express themselves in a meaningful way. So, we decided to set up a massive game of keepy-uppy and to tell our leaders ‘Don’t Drop the Ball on Aid‘. It’s time to kick off. Grab a football, a camera and film yourself keeping the ball up. Whether you can do one, two or twenty, your keepy-uppys will form part of an amazing video chain, linking people worldwide who care enough to kick off and fight poverty.
Just months after the World Cup finishes in South Africa, the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) conference kicks off in New York and we’ll be showing your videos to the world leaders that attend. The MDGs have the power to revolutionize people’s lives in poor countries. But rich countries are failing to provide vitally-needed aid money to turn the goals into reality, and this conference – combined with your keepy-uppys – can kickstart that vital progress.
Spent well and targeted effectively, foreign aid money is a massive force for good. It means kids in schools. Trained nurses. Clean water. It means whole communities – even whole countries – facing the future with hope, not fear. But in 2009, nearly half of the world’s richest countries actually cut the amount they spent on aid. And it means that millions of people are being denied a new start. But together, we can make change happen, and – with the Millennium Development Goals conference planned for September – this is the year to get it done. So don’t just watch the action in South Africa, grab a ball and get yourself filmed. A lot of very powerful people will get a timely reminder to keep their promises on delivering aid money – as well as getting a chance to check out your beautiful ball skills.
Find out more and upload a video!
Ian Sullivan is the Global Digital Campaigner for Oxfam.
