Does Aid Work?

Over the last 50 years, over $3trillion has been ploughed into Africa and its development. It remains the only continent to have become poorer in the last three decades. Based on this fact alone, it’d be easy to say ‘aid’ simply isn’t working.

We live in a culture dominated by theories that donating to Africa will help solve their problems and stop their plight. Western aid, given from a sense of pity, is very difficult to challenge. How can you fault someone who tries to help you, especially when our first experience of aid resulted in such a positive outcome (The Marshall Plan in 1945)? Unfortunately, when it comes to Africa, things are never as simplistic as they would be anywhere else – in fact, Zambian author Dambisa Moyo argues aid essentially disadvantages Africa, and with good reason too.

In her book ‘Dead Aid’ she essentially two major reasons aid in Africa doesn’t work.
Unlike other historically successful aid interventions like the Marshall Plan, aid in Africa will always be needed such is the extent of the problems, therefore its continually in need clearly making development unsustainable.

Perhaps most importantly is the fact aid money often doesn’t go into productive causes and consequently corrodes the incentives system in many African countries (Ethiopia and Uganda, for example). Aid is essentially "free money"; therefore, governments do not see the need to generate revenue by growing their economies. Why work with local entrepreneurs when you can always go cap-in-hand to beg the white man stemming sustainable development. As the old saying goes “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” In this context, should you continue to feed African governments, they’ll continue to take, knowing they’ve got cod for dinner all week.

The aid-driven development model, as Ms. Moyo argues, has not and will not deliver economic growth. The money is simply misused by governments. Her solution? Stop donating. It seems like a shocking heartless response however it would teach many governments to become more self-reliant and use what money they have more sustainably. The major downfall of her solution is that the short-term consequences of this would simply be catastrophic. The effects would be that the less advantaged and most under privileged would certainly lose out and many deaths would occur across the whole of Africa.
Aid has created something of a vicious circle. Because governments simply assume there will be a continuous stream of aid trickling into their pockets, many chose to neglect developing and sustaining many social services – leaving charities to pick up the slack. Similarly to aid, this also can have a negative knock-on effect as governments won’t address this issues in the future a third party is attending them.

There are other solutions all of which have pros and cons. Donating to charities that directly do grass roots work in Africa is often a very productive use of funds, however, you often have to accept only a percentage of your money will go towards what you’ve donated to – and the rest might seep into the corrupts hands, the question is, is it worth accepting that so that someone disadvantaged might receive the majority of it? This again comes back to the ‘Dead Aid’’s solution to simple turn the tap to stop aid trickling into Africa. But then who really loses out?

A very complicated complex argument, which still has no flawed solution I’m sure you’ll agree!

Alive and Kicking

Sub-Sahara Africa is the poorest region in the world and was ravished by the HIV/AIDS virus. The only continent to have become poorer over the last three decades, Africa suffers from mass unemployment. 64% of Zambia’s 12 million population earn less than the equivalent of one US dollar a day – which in turn causes a whole series out various problems relating to social development. However, there is one organisation that is determined to offer its workers well above minimum wage in good working conditions. Alive & Kicking is a football (and netball and volleyball) production enterprise, offering disabled and HIV/AIDS infected workers the chance of decent income and an escape from their desperate situations. I came to find out about Alive and Kicking through the two Sport NGOs I’m working with out in Zambia. EduSport and Sport In Action both purchase their footballs from Alive and & Kicking. Our equipment cupboard at the house is packed to the rafters with their products. Each ball proudly displays their logo, a warning of the dangers of malaria and their real signature, the writing ‘Against child labour’ around the ball’s air supply. A massive fan of their ideals and interested to find out more, I managed to organise a meet with their Managing Director, Chad. We spoke for a while, about Alive and Kicking, and also about the IDEALS project I was proud to be apart of. Each stitcher has the aim of making 3 balls a day – which doesn’t sound a lot, but Alive and & Kicking balls are of the highest standard. Even in the terrains of the compounds the IDEALS students operate, the Alive & Kicking balls are hard wearing and do not fall apart – something more famous production company’s products could be accused of. I sat with Chris, one of the stitchers (pictured below). He told me about his average day at the stitching centre, located at ZamLeather, Zambia’s biggest producer of leather.



All of the stitchers seemed to enjoy their job and enjoyed a good standard of living, all of which is of course relevant to the country in which they live. It was a pleasant environment to be around and seemed nice enough to be working in. There was a good atmosphere and additional activities were encouraged by the management. The workers were very enthusiastic about their work football team, playing every Saturday morning in a league. There are reasons to remain optismistic – since their company’s birth, they’ve created over 150 jobs for Africans. Despite their American managing director, they stay true to their roots boosting of the fact their products are: made by Africans, in Africa for Africans on their company t-shirts. Through their work, they’ve targeted over 40,000 children with the intention of educating them about the dangers of HIV/AIDS. They’ve distributed over 300,000 footballs, netballs and volleyballs all together. You can order personalised footballs or organisations such as EduSport and Sport In Action can have a specific design for their required desires. Or you can simply buy or donate balls from their online shop. Friend of EduSport, a UK charity supporting the work of EduSport last week created a formal partnership with Alive & Kicking. Supporting their work and ordering ten footballs for their Go! Sisters world series to be held next year, Friend of EduSport are more than happy to give Alive & Kicking business.




Made in Africa, by Africa, for Africa – Alive and Kicking.

You can find out more about Alive and Kicking on Twitter (@ballsforafrica), Facebook (www.facebook.com/BallsForAfrica) or their website (www.aliveandkicking.org.uk)

The Day I Caught A Bus To Meet Simon Fowler Of Ocean Colour Scene

To be published in Brig, March edition 2010

The Day I Caught A Bus To Meet Simon Fowler Of Ocean Colour Scene

In 1998, Stirling Castle was just one of thirty-six stops on Ocean Colour Scene’s arena tour of Britain. Their arena tour became the biggest selling arena tour of any UK band in that year.

They played three consecutive sold out nights in the grounds of the castle off the back of the unexpected success of ‘Moseley Shoals’ and ‘Marchin’ Already’ on the way to becoming one of Britpop’s greatest gems.

Six studio albums later and twelve years on, the band returned to Stirling to play the Albert Hall whilst promoting their latest album ‘Saturday’.

As I waited patiently through the Birmingham act’s sound check to meet with Simon Fowler, lead singer of the band, the significance of their latest tour struck me.

In a world of declining CD sales and ever youthful chart topping acts, here was one of the 90’s best discoveries, 21 years after their emergence, in the words of fellow ‘Britpoptorian’ Liam Gallagher just ‘f**king havin’ it”.

Although their three consecutive sold out nights at Stirling Castle might have epitomized the height of Ocean Colour Scene, when reminiscing, it certainly wasn’t all it was cracked up to be in their eyes.

“What I do remember is when we got there is that we were bitterly disappointed. I don’t know what we had imagined, but when you playing Stirling Castle, what you are actually playing is Stirling bloody car park! I don’t know if we thought we’d be playing ram parts or what!”

Despite this, the gigs marked what had been a dramatic change in fortunes for a band that just eight years prior, had been dropped by their record label and forced back onto the dole.

Things had originally started out well for the band with the release of the single ‘Sway’, however, when their record label was bought by the larger company Phonogram, conflicts sparked.

At the time, Phonogram were looking for their singed artists to be conforming to the then popular Madchester music scene which had been fronted by bands such as the Stone Roses and Happy Mondays.

It was here that issues arose as the band had their own ideas they wanted to pursue, leaving their debut album a culmination of directions.

The album was critically and commercially deemed disappointing and the band fell into disrepute with Phonogram, leaving them with little to work towards and no outlet to project the songs they were writing.

However, there was never any doubt in the mind of Flower that they would eventually make the break through and 1993 saw the year it all changed for Ocean Colour Scene.

Paul Weller invited the band a support slot on some dates of his tour and then asked OCS guitarist Cradock to play on one of his singles. He later asked Fowler to accompany him with the vocals on his album Wild Wood.

This was the start of something big for the Birmingham band.

“He (Paul Weller) was a huge influence on us in the fact that he gave us confidence and made us realize we had more than just a hobby. Steve (Craddock) has been playing in Paul’s band since 1993 and I was the support act”.

With the money made by the support slot and Fowler and Cradock’s income, they were able to finance an outlet for their music.

Noel Gallagher, then lead guitarist and backing vocalist of a working-class Manchester band known as Oasis, was wrongly cited by the media to giving the band their break through when he invited the band to play a support slot on their tour as they exploded onto the Britpop scene having heard a tape of the band.

However, when I quizzed Flower over the early days of the band, he was quick to attribute any success to Chris Evans and Paul Weller.

“Chris Evans broke the band, it was almost 100% down to him. When we went on that tour with Oasis, no one came to watch us at all. Chris made us record of the week two weeks in a row and got the Radio One morning show and that was it. The album went in at number two (in the charts) and stayed there for 6 months”.

Although Flower was in little doubt the band would eventually make the break through onto the scene, he admitted the success of Moseley Shoals was unexpected.

“It was a complete surprise. We were making it for a Japanese label called Ponycannon and it fell threw at the 11th hour. There was only 15,000 albums made”

With songs such as ‘The Riverboat Song’, and ‘The Day We Caught A Train’, it was never impossible for people not to sit up and notice the band.

By the end of 1996, Moseley Shoals had sold 1.3million copies in Britain and the rest as they say is history.

The band went from strength to strength, following up their initial success with ‘Marchin’ Already’, and playing a supporting role at Knebworth in front of 250,000 people, a now iconic moment in British music.

The band have since added another six albums to their discography and still turn out to strong crowds.

Although the Britpop era made famous by the likes of OCS and co is but a lingering memory, the band’s popularity hasn’t wavered as they recently added a second night to Edinburgh Picture House having sold out so quickly.

In a career that’s spanned 21 years, produced six studio albums, seen the band play the likes of Knebworth and headline Stirling Car Park, it’d be hard to pick a particularly high point, but Fowler did his best.

“The Albert Hall (London, not Stirling!). Top of the Pops should have been one of our highlights but it wasn’t. The others mimed and I had to sing it live. We got there about 10.30am to sound check and then basically everyone else got off their face whilst I had to nervously try not to drink more than two pints. There’s about forty people in the audience and all your childhood dreams are crushed in front of your eyes!”

Fowler had just one piece of advice for hopeful musicians.

“Don’t listen to anyone older than you!”

The Day I Caught A Bus To Meet Simon Fowler Of Ocean Colour Scene from andrew Jenkin on Vimeo.

I met the man behind Stirling Albion fan's take over bid, to talk about Oasis...

'Buystirlingalbion' is a campaign launched by supporters of the 'Binos' (also known by some as the 'Yo Yos' - on account of their frequent leaps between the Scottish leagues) to buy the club from Chairman Peter McKenzine. Created in May of this year, the trust aims at taking the club, currently sliding into financial obsess and putting back in the hands of the community from where it first started.

Supporters can pledge £40 for a say in the future of their beloved side. This donation allows them to cast votes on how the club should be run for a more sustainable financial future. Similar to the mould of non-league Ebbsfleet United (bought through the website, myfootballclub.com), decisions will be made democratically, however, the footballing side of things will be left to Allan Moore, who under his guidance, has seen Stirling at the right end of the Scottish League 2.

Fronted by Paul Goodwin, the trust had a six figure bid club rejected by chairman McKenzie just 2 months ago, despite having had the club up for sale for 7 years. Paul Goodwin of the trust came and met with me on the Air 3 Sport Show. To hear the interview just head over to www.air3radio.com and go to listen again.

Paul comes from an incredible marketing background and we spoke at length about the bid and it's current situation. Since the original bid was rejected, a new timeframe for the bid's completion has been put in place for the end of this current footballing campaign (next May). Amongst other topics of conversation regarding the bid was Cristiano Ronald's donation, the fluctuations in value in case of promotion and what new projects were being introduced to speed up the take over process.

We eventually moved onto the topic of music and such which led to the incredible story that whilst head of marketing at HMV, Paul almost completely manufactured the Oasis v Blur rivalry through the fabrication of leaked stories. In an attempt to recreate the Stones v Beatles war of the 60s and 70s, Paul and his HMV colleagues masterminded a fictional furor which captivated most of Britain and epitomized the Britpop era of the 90s.

He also gave me a free 'Buy Stirling Albion' key ring :) - head to the website now to hear the interview.

The night I met a Zambian National Hero

It was a strange strange situation when I first heard of Lyson Zulu. When out on placement in Zambia, I met Sally Pandor, the national football manager. He sold me the last official Zambian football shirt in Lusaka and we had a photo together, it was good times.

I later learnt whilst I was in Zambia, the national team, also known as the Chipolopolo (translating as the 'Bullets' from Nanja to English), would be part-taking in a friendly game against fellow Africans Ghana....in London. So whilst I, Johnny English, was in Zambia writing about sport, the Zambian national team traded places. I'm sure at the time of arranging the friendly it seemed like a good idea. In between international qualifiers against Egypt, Algeria and Rwanda, a chance to have a look over the first team selection would have proved beneficial.

What happens wasn't foreseen was an inability for the majority Zambian national team to actually get to London, due to a lack of passports, which is usually a problem let's be honest. After this realization, panic spread across the Zambian management team and in a desperate attempt to field a team, called up many Zambians already residing within Britain, cue Lyson Zulu.

This is where it becomes all very interesting. Lyson Zulu is currently on a scholarship at Loughborough, having already attended Bath University. He was offered a chance to shine at Bath having impressed their students during their time on the IDEALs Project (the project through which I too went across to Africa). He was a peer leader at EduSport, the non-government organization I was writing during my placement. I therefore was required to write a news article about the man himself which is on the EduSport website and can be seen here.

Despite the situations in which he gained his called up, the amount of pride that a product of Kalingalinga (one of the placements students carried out their sport's coaching during the project) gained a cap for the Zambian National Team was insurmountable.

Then, last night at the Stirling Zambian Fundraising Ceilidh, who should I meet, but Lyson himself who had made the trip up from Loughborough. Probably the nicest guy in the entire world, we quickly got into conversation once I mentioned I had written an article about him for the EduSport website. Both being men, the conversation quickly led onto the topic of football and his call up.

"I was very surprised to get a call up, it was the proudest moment of my life. Despite the call up, I wasn't really expecting to a game and perhaps only play the last 10/15 minutes of the match. However, during the warm up, the coach said he liked the looks of me and less than 15 minutes before kick off, was told I was starting".

"I was playing as a lone striker in a 4-5-1 formation which is a very hard position to play and requires a lot of hard work. Although we lost, it was still amazing experience, especially to be playing in London".

Leyton Orient's home ground 'Brisbane Road' does seem one of the last football grounds in the world you'd find a 4-1 win for Ghana over the minnows of Zambia, but never the less, it was a fine setting for Lyson Zulu's proudest moment who has since become something of a national hero in the eyes of everyone how acknowledges his moment.

The Rise Of British Cinema

The rise of the American Multiplex under Thatcher’s reign coincided, or perhaps for a more accurate description, triggered, the demise of British Cinema, a once hugely prominent and influential figure in world wide film production. While Hollywood continues to rise in productivity, everyone else seems to be sinking into unsustainable financial mire of film production investment; a common trend since the creation of the Marshall Plan back in 1945 following the economic crisis within Britain post World War Two.

But I believe there are many reasons to be a cheerful Brit as even in these dark times, there has never been a lack of talent or potential. Although in prior times Britain has been stereotypically known for more dour socially realistic productions and ‘Costume Dramas’ than for light hearted entertainment, there has been a change in the wind and more ‘feel good films’ have been capturing the hearts of cinema goers including Danny Boyle’s ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ adaption which gained both critical and commercial success, indicating potentially promising signs for a resurgent Britain and while it’s hard to claim them truly ‘British’, runaway productions in the form of James Bond and Harry Potter franchises continue to reap financial rewards.

While it is much more financially risky for British Production Companies to ‘gamble’ on a film with unknown talent and a considerably ‘different’ script, the UK Film Council will fund UK productions with £8million for more established directors on top of the £5million it invests in new and upcoming innovative film makers, which in respect is hardly anything compared to the bill of a US production, is still government financed and a massive benefit and opportunity to film makers across the country.

But the real potential lies in the talent Britain has always held which could be gradually combined with the upcoming talent. For instance, ‘The Dark Knight’, the fourth highest grossing film of all time and already heralded as a modern great was directed by Christopher Nolan, who unknown to most, was born and lived in London for early stages of his life before moving to America. The fact he is yet to reach the age of forty promises endless potential for years to come. Likewise, fellow modern directors also stamp British talent within America with ‘The Bourne Supermacy/Ultimatium’ director Paul Greengrass illustrating this. Meanwhile, Shane Meadows is an example of a home grown talent whom continues to produce quality productions on small scale budgets for British audiences such as Somers Town and This Is England while there is hardly a lack of prolific actors starring in films on either side of the Atlantic with Daniel Craig, James McAvoy, Gerald Butler, Keria Knightly, Orlando Bloom and Paul Bettany fine examples of such.

In conclusion, it’s fair to state that these are potentially promising times for the UK in terms of productions and while it will be a long time before there will be competition with US films in the Cinema Screening schedules, a gradual and steady approach could see the continuation and extension to the golden crop of British Film Making.