Togo's footballers have claimed their place in soccer history with their first participation in World Cup finals while, back home, their female counterparts are hitting the headlines too –
inside and outside the football stadium.
 |
| "More elegant than men": women playing in Ouagadougou for the West African "Champions League“. |
|
 |
2005 was an important year for Togo's lady footballers. For the first time, its top team FC Ligue took part in the "Five Nations Tournament" staged from 27 August to 4 September 2005 in
Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, where they competed for the title with female teams such as the "Princesses du Kadiogo" from Burkina Faso, Juventus de Yopougon from Côte d’Ivoire and AS
Mandé from Mali. All the teams had won their respective national championships to qualify for this international event.
According to Marguerite Rouamba Karama, the Tournament initiator,"Women's soccer is extremely popular in West Africa. Women play much more elegantly than men so have a big following." A statement
that is borne out by the fact that leading personalities from the region's sporting and political scene turned up to spectate at the Tournament, the fifth of its kind. The West African "Champions
League" is growing steadily and this year, eight women's teams from all over the region are coming to Ouagadougou, eager to win the prized title.
A big success for one of the world's poorest countries
 |
| "Go, girls, go!": poster advertising the 4th Five Nations Tournament. |
|
|
For the time being, Nigeria – currently number one in women's soccer in Africa – is not participating in the event. As Marguerite Rouamba Karama says, its team is just too good. "Our aim is to
achieve the same standard as the women from Nigeria and to participate in international FIFA competitions as soon as possible". And she adds that Togo and other teams are well on the way to attaining
this objective.
This represents a major success for Togo. The small West African country is regarded as one of the world's poorest nations. With an average annual income of just under 400 USD, it ranks 143rd. in the
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Index. The percentage of 15 to 49 year olds who are HIV positive is estimated at roughly six percent. Since the turbulent presidential
elections in late April 2005 and the violent conflicts between opposition supporters and the security forces, the political situation has remained tense.
|
World Cup Group G
|
|
France
|
|
South Korea
|
|
Switzerland
|
|
Togo
|
That a dozen women's football teams were nevertheless able to get together for the national championships is a sign of a new beginning and a source of hope for Togo, particularly as most of the young
players – the majority of whom are still in education – come from the lower social classes.
Football against AIDS
With the club tournament, Marguerite Karama is pursuing more than just sporting objectives. She combines the event with development policy concerns, spotlighting the issues of HIV/AIDS and
peace.
 |
| Marguerite Rouamba Karama (centre) receiving the IOC "Women and Sport Trophy". |
|
|
The Tournament is designed to show that two countries which are in conflict with each other, like Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire, can still play each other at football. "The players address the AIDS
problem in workshops that provide them with an opportunity to discuss forbidden topics in connection with sexuality", Karama explains. In their respective countries, the young sportswomen are often
prominent social figures and frequently take on a leading role in their communities, acting as role models for people of their own age and younger.
From its inception, the Tournament has been supported by UNICEF, the international children's organization, which donates the prizes. FIFA too became involved for the first time in 2005 and helped by
supplying items of equipment.
In 2005, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) awarded Mrs. Karama its 2005 "Women and Sport Trophy", for her tireless and successful efforts to promote women's soccer.
Swiss commitment in West Africa:
SDC is present in various West African countries. Its chief goals include improving the work of government, in particular through contributions to decentralization efforts, and promoting effective,
diversified and sustainable national economies based on market-economy principles. |
|
|
|
 |
From 9 June to 9 July, 32 teams will be competing for the World Cup title in Germany, including Switzerland and several Swiss partner countries in development cooperation. This gave
us the idea of producing a unusual and surprising facts outside the World Cup media spotlight.
All articles  |
|
 |
Facts and Figures |
|
|
Area:
|
56 785 km2
|
|
Population:
|
|
|
Life expectancy (men):
|
55
|
| Life expectancy (women): |
69
|
|
Literacy (men):
|
75.5%
|
|
Literacy (women):
|
46,9%
|
|
Gross National Product:
|
8.9 billion USD
|
| GNP per capita: |
310 USD |
|
Source: World Bank Development Indicators 2004
|
|
| Women and sport: on track for equal opportunities |
|
"Women and Sport" has been an established item on the international development policy agenda since 1994 at the latest, when the First International Conference on
Women and Sport met in the British seaside resort of Brighton, ultimately adopting the "Brighton Declaration" and setting up the «International
Working Group on Women and Sport»
Initially, the main focus was on encouraging the greater involvement of women in sport, but the emphasis has subsequently shifted to equal opportunities for women in all sport-related matters.
Moreover, nowadays, sport is increasingly used as a tool for implementing broader development and gender equality objectives, for instance in the fields of health, education, combating violence,
community development and human rights. And these topics were centre stage at the Fourth World Conference on Women and Sport held from in Kumamoto (Japan ) from 11 to 14 May 2006. |
|
|
