Africa Ke Nako – Africa’s time has come!
All-Austrian initiative for a new vision of Africa
Together with the Vienna Institute for International Dialogue and Cooperation (VIDC) and the Africa Networking Platform, an alliance of African communities in Austria, on 30 November 2009 the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) has launched an initiative to spotlight Africa in the run-up to the FIFA World Cup tournament in South Africa in 2010: Africa Ke Nako - Africa's time has come!
Africa Ke Nako: The time has come - for a broader vision of Africa
- © by: istockphoto
The World Cup 2010 as a chance for Africa.
The initiative, Africa Ke Nako - Africa's time has come!, has planned an extensive series of events and campaigns throughout Austria. Until the end of the FIFA World Cup tournament, it will highlight the diversity of Africa and help people see the continent from a broader perspective. The official FIFA slogan is, Ke Nako. Celebrate Africa's Humanity. Ke Nako, a phrase from the Sotho language, means, "The time has come". And this was the inspiration for Africa Ke Nako - Africa's time has come!, because it is time for Austrians to take a fresh look at Africa. Football is a good place to start. So even before kick-off, Africa Ke Nako - Africa's time has come! will explore unconventional and interesting avenues and interconnections.
What comes to mind when we think of Africa?
Africa is often seen as a continent of crises and disasters. More than hardly any another word in recent decades, 'Africa' has come to be associated with endless misery and hardship. Public opinion is coloured by negative stereotypes and African men and women are perceived as victims at best. So a major aim of this initiative promoted by Austrian Development Cooperation is to show some affirmative and surprising sides of Africa, and above all to get us to think again about the way we see it and take a broader view.
Cooperation between the University of Vienna and African universities and an all-Austrian programme of events
- © by: ADA/Kobü Addis Abeba
Workshop Africa - cooperation partner University of Addis Abeba.
The programme for Africa Ke Nako - Africa's time has come! comprises Austria-wide campaigns and events by educational, cultural and civic organisations, ranging from campaigns for schools and dialogue platforms to concerts, media projects, music programmes and artistic contributions in the public domain.
- © by: ADA/Kobü Kampala
Workshop Africa - cooperation partner University of Kampala.
A centrepiece of Africa Ke Nako - Africa's time has come! will be a cooperative effort between ADA and the University of Vienna. In Workshop Africa, students from the Institute for Media and Communication Studies in Vienna will engage in a dialogue with students from two African universities, Kampala (Uganda) and Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), to examine the continent's image as communicated by the media.
In tandem: launch of the Africa Networking Platform
A key cooperation partner of the initiative, Africa Ke Nako - Africa's time has come!, is the African community in Austria. Representatives of African organisations have joined together for the first time under an umbrella organisation, Africa Networking Platform, to communicate their concerns more effectively and harness synergies. Many projects and events by African organisations will therefore be featured as part of the initiative, Africa Ke Nako - Africa's time has come!
