soccer

Note: This blog is a re-post from the blog on Alive & Kicking's main site

There has been a spike in criticism of the ‘buy one, give one’ (BOGO) model that a number of Western NGOs use to encourage charitable giving. This has been prompted by an article from R Todd Johnson, in which he argues that philanthropy is killing Africa and that ‘BOGO should be no-go’. Alive & Kicking offers a BOGO option in our online shop, and we agree with the majority of Todd’s argument, but this need not be contradictory. This piece outlines the problems with traditional BOGO models, and explains how Alive & Kicking does it differently.

The problems with BOGO

‘Buy one give one’ schemes encourage individual donors to pay for an item to be donated in a developing country at the same time as buying an identical item to keep. As Shawn Forde points out, the appeal of this approach is that it is an effective tool to stimulate charitable giving, able to engage individuals who wouldn’t otherwise donate. But how beneficial are these gifts to the recipient and what do they do to the local economy?

Giving out products for free in developing nations can have a negative effect on local business. It harms local producers who make similar items, and local retailers who would have sold them. Furthermore, giving away something for nothing is also blamed for creating a dependency culture which is adverse for entrepreneurship and innovation.

There has been a spike in criticism of the ‘buy one, give one’ (BOGO) model that a number of Western NGOs use to encourage charitable giving. This has been prompted by an article from R Todd Johnson, in which he argues that philanthropy is killing Africa and that ‘BOGO should be no-go’. Alive & Kicking offers a BOGO option in our online shop, and we agree with the majority of Todd’s argument, but this need not be contradictory. This piece outlines the problems with traditional BOGO models, and explains how Alive & Kicking does it differently.

As some of you know, in honor of World Cup fever, we’ve been highlighting ways that soccer projects around the world are changing lives.

The 2010 World Cup was widely hailed as Africa's World Cup, and rightly so. After all, this is the continent's first ever hosting of the event, and many optimitistically looked forward to the benefits, both economic and social, the event would bring to Africa. Sadly, however, a great chance was missed when the decision was made to use the Jabulani ball rather than a ball made in Africa.

Seminal Pan-African workshop about policies to support renewable energies. 

Accra, June 23, 2010. “The solar radiation Africa receives could make this continent the Saudi-Arabia of the future”. With this bold statement, Hafsat Abiola, daughter of Nigeria’s late President Elect Moshood Abiola, summarized the results of “Power Kick for Africa”, a two-day strategy workshop on renewable energy policies. The gathering was organised by the World Future Council Foundation, based in Hamburg, Germany, in cooperation with the Energy Commission of Ghana. It brought together representatives from utilities, regulators, industry and civil society from ten African countries who are determined to expand their cooperation under the umbrella of the African Renewable Energy Alliance (AREA). Their main point of discussion was how policy-makers can support the harvesting of abundant renewable energy and thus open the door for sustainable African development.

“If we repeat the mistakes of the developed world by realising African development mainly on the burning of fossil fuels, climate change will have a disastrous effect on our countries”, said the Executive Director of the Regional Centre for Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency of ECOWAS, Mahama Kappiah, at a press briefing in the Coconut Grove Regency Hotel, Accra. On the other hand, decentralised energy production through solar systems and wind farms could bring power to many remote regions, thus allowing development, creating jobs and benefitting health. Kappiah: “Solar power is reliable and can be installed easily and without the need to connect to the national electricity grid.”

All eyes are on South Africa during World Cup 2010

Janai Orina, a Kenyan friend in DC, sent me the link to this moving video on YouTube of young footballers in Kenya. The football club is sponsored by Ecosandals, a wonderful little NGO working in Nairobi, Kenya. Here is an appeal to contribute to the project from the Ecosandals website:

Please Donate to Ecosandals Kicks for Peace football.

Ecosandals is the lead sponsor of a first-ever football tournament and reconciliation event, “Kicks for Peace, sponsored by Ecosandals”.