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20.12.2014 Cup of Nations

CAF charged to leverage AfCON tourney for Sport for Development

By George Osei
CAF charged to leverage AfCON tourney for Sport for Development
20.12.2014 LISTEN

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has been charged to leverage the continents' premiere tournament (AfCON) towards sport for development as there are huge potentials to build bridges there.

This according to speakers at the first sport for development dialogue series is a sure way for CAF to be seen as contributing more towards advancing social change and development in the continent.

Topics for discussion at this maiden event held in Accra put together by the Sports for Social Change Network, (SSCN-Ghana), included; 'AfCON 2015, its relevance to sport for social change in Africa' and 'Sport for Development (SfD) in Ghana - what FIFA and GIZ have done'.

Speaking on the first topic, Charles Cobbina, Director, ORPED Ghana, said over the years, CAF has not done enough to leverage the AfCON tournament for social change on the continent.

He stressed that the next edition in Equatorial Guinea should be an opportunity for the continent's governing body of football to deal with a serious social challenge like the Ebola virus that has hit parts of the continent badly.

He added: 'because of this Ebola virus, the tournament had to be moved from Morocco to Equatorial Guinea, and, at one point, no African country was willing to accept hosting rights'.

This, he continued, should be a huge challenge to the CAF Executive Committee, whom he described as sleeping in terms of leveraging the AfCON tournament for SfD.

Convener of SSCN-Ghana, Kodwo Morgan, tasked CAF to also consider looking at other social areas as climate change, sanitation, education and health among others.

He gave a run down on the contribution of FIFA and the German development organization (GIZ) towards sport for development in Ghana, which have included the building of the FIFA Football for Hope Centre in Cape Coast, the Street Football World Cup by FIFA and the funding of the Youth Development through football by the GIZ.

The SSCN-Ghana is a coalition of NGOs whose activities involves the use of sport towards social change and includes, Right to Play, Play Soccer Ghana, ORPED Ghana, the YES Foundation among others.

The dialogue was chaired by the Country Manager of Right to Play, Ghana, Ethel Sackitey, and came off last Wednesday with this next in the series expected to come off within the first quarter of next year.

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