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| Missed a story? Don’t worry, we have archived all our stories here |
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archived stories and photos |
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Get hold of our past projects and experience our work |
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Lemn Sissay |
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Spoken-word poet Lemn Sissay performs his work at an annual arts festival in South Africa. |
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Encounters |
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When Encounters started 11 years ago, it was just a small festival with a few filmmakers and films. Now, it has screened 40 films, 20 of them produced in South Africa. |
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Connecting Classrooms seminar |
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As part of its Connecting Classrooms initiative, the British Council hosted a seminar in Addis Abba in July 2009 to challenge cultural stereotypes and encourage global citizenship. |
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Shank |
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The British Council in the UK brought a coming-of-age film to the Out in Africa South African Gay & Lesbian Film Festival in South Africa. |
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Nonhlanhla Hadebe |
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For many centuries, storytelling has been an important part of African culture. The tradition continues as Nonhlanhla Hadebe, a former Power in the Voice participant, performs at a festival in Benoni, South Africa. |
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Storymoja Hay Festival |
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Acclaimed poets, writers and journalists shared their experiences with Connecting Classrooms students at the annual Storymoja Hay Festival in Nairobi, Kenya. |
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Mercy Madonna of Malawi |
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A production filled with song, dance, comedy, masks and drama tells the story of Madonna’s adoption of a Malawian orphan. |
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Katine sports festival |
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Students from schools in the UK and Uganda organised a sports festival as part of the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms initiative. |
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British Council and UNESCO partnership |
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With climate change high on the world’s agenda, the British Council and UNESCO hosted a four-day media training workshop in Zimbabwe to raise awareness of journalists’ role. |
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Malawi Premier Skills |
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The British Council and British Premier League launched their innovative football development programme in a seventh African country. |
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Given Nkuna |
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Crafter Given Nkuna, named South Africa’s Young Design Entrepreneur 2009 by the British Council, will travel to the UK in September 2009 to represent his country at the British Council’s International Young Design Entrepreneur Award. |
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Wish Tree |
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The British Council launched a project in South Africa to find out more about ordinary people’s lives and give them an opportunity to say how they would like things to improve. |
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Ghana Global Xchange |
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The southern town of Bolgatanga in Ghana was a buzz with excitement as 18 British Council and VSO volunteers started their three-month volunteer stay as part of the Global Xchange initiative. |
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Global Changemakers Youth Summit |
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Three Ugandan volunteers travelled to South Africa to represent their country at the Africa Youth Summit held at the International Convention Centre in Cape Town. |
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Ghana InterAction |
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British Council Ghana hosts its first InterAction Strategic Leadership Programme. |
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Cape Town Book Fair |
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The British Council brought two UK writers to the Cape Town Book Fair in South Africa, a feast of literary events and ideas for all ages. |
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Rivers of the World |
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The British Council, in collaboration with the Mayor’s Thames Festival, has brought a touring outdoor exhibition to the Durban Botanic Gardens. |
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Socam and British Council partnership |
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In an effort to develop Malawian professionals, the British Council and the Society of Accountants in Malawi (Socam) have signed a strategic alliance agreement. |
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Zimbabwe HIFA |
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The Harare Gardens were transformed into an art lover’s paradise during the annual Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA), which took place in May 2009. |
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Back 2 The City |
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Rhymes, skateboards, graffiti and MCs were the order of the day as young people from all over Johannesburg gathered in Newtown this Freedom Day to attend the third annual Back 2 the City festival. |
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Uganda Global School Partnerships |
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Nine Ugandan primary school teachers recently received Certificates in Global Education and School Partnerships from the British Council. |
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Marlene le Roux |
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Growing up with a disability and not being able to play with other children would be hard for any child, but it did not prevent Marlene le Roux from realising her dreams. |
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Malawi Theatre for a Change |
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The British Council and Theatre for a Change are training Malawian teachers in more effective ways of talking about HIV/AIDS. |
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Nana Kwadwo Duah |
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Success is enjoying what you do and not having to apologise for professional standards. It means giving back to the industry that has brought me this far and leaving a roadmap for other young professionals to follow,’ says International Young Communications Entrepreneur (IYCE) Nana Kwadwo Duah. |
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Arthur Attwell |
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Some people would be disheartened if they applied for something and were rejected repeatedly – but not Arthur Attwell, who took it as a challenge and has finally made it to runner-up for the British Council’s International Young Publishing Award (IYPE). |
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Kenya school partnership |
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British Council school partnerships programme creates friendships and provides learning experiences. |
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Ghana Debate to Action |
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A project of the British Council and the World Bank Group aims to equip young leaders in Ghana with skills to lead their organisations and communities. |
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Ignatius Mabasa |
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When he wrote his first essay at the age of 14 he didn’t know that someday he would write award winning novels. Ignatius Mabasa, British Council Zimbabwe’s Deputy Director is the author of two Shona novels; he has recently won an award for his latest book Ndafa Here? (So What?) at the Zimbabwe National Merit Awards. |
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Zimbabwe MEX |
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British Council Zimbabwe is keeping Management Express going despite the difficulties. |
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Ghana IYCE Winner 2009 |
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The British Council, in collaboration with Creative Economy, recently awarded Ghanaian-born Nana Kwadwo Duah the International Young Communications Entrepreneur (IYXE) award in the UK. |
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Kadaria Ahmed |
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Growing up in northern Nigeria, Kadaria Ahmed always had a dream that she would work for the BBC – and many years later, she did. This managing editor of NEXT newspaper in Nigeria talks about her passion for journalism, her children and making an impact on people’s lives. |
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Richard Weyers |
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Director of British Council Sudan Richard Weyers believes that the British Council’s work in terms of a world purpose is more important than ever before. |
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DFID Global Schools Partnership |
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Teachers and students from Budehaven Community School recently travelled to Ethiopia to build friendships with students at Assossa High School. |
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NAMA awards |
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The colourful side of Zimbabwe was showcased as artists and media, film and television personalities gathered for the eighth annual Zimbabwe National Merit Awards at the Rainbow Towers recently. |
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Dreams + Teams Ethiopia |
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Students in rural Ethiopia will now have a chance to interact with students from the UK, thanks to a British Council school partnership programme. |
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The MEX espionage |
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In a country where industrial espionage is rife, it’s important to protect sensitive company information. Malawi Country Director Marc Jessel spoke at a Management Express forum about how the British Council protects its data. |
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WaPi Uganda |
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Eric Twizera, aged 13, impressed audiences at the fourth edition of the British Council’s Words and Pictures initiative (WaPi). |
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WaPi Senegal |
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Looking at the environment is a part of the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms programme. For one Ugandan student, the message has been received loud and clear. |
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Honorine Budji |
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Her love for people is undoubtedly what draws most people to her. British Council Cameroon project delivery officer Honorine Budji shares some thoughts about her work and her values. |
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Infecting the City |
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The Africa Centre, in collaboration with the British Council and other sponsors, hosted an outdoor performance festival in Cape Town in February 2009. The art works explore the theme of “Home Affairs” – migration and exclusion. |
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UK School Games |
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An opportunity to volunteer at the UK School Games has given Zambian physical education and English teacher Namukolo Mutikitela new organisational skills and inspired her to get her students involved in sport. |
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Connecting Classrooms and Climate Change |
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Looking at the environment is a part of the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms programme. For one Ugandan student, the message has been received loud and clear. |
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Global Changemakers |
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Too young to be part of the British Council’s InterAction programme, Elsabe van Vuuren thought she would have to wait a couple of years to get involved, but instead she is making her mark as a Global Changemaker. |
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Death row |
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Falsely accused of murder, beaten, chained and staring death in the face Arthur Judah Angel was sentenced to die at Enugu prison, Nigeria. His drawings, which depicted life inside the prison walls, got the attention of a British Council representative who organised an exhibition for him in 1993 and ultimately helped him be released from prison. |
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International School Award |
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What started as a family holiday trip to Mombasa in 2004 turned out to be a successful partnership between the Precious Twins Academy School, Mombasa and Chalfont St Peter Church of England School in the UK. |
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Lagos on my mind |
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The British Council recently hosted a graffiti and mural art workshop for school children in conjunction with Dream Arts and Design Agency. |
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Lilian Akot |
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Lilian Akot, communications manager at British Council Uganda, believes that with good leadership, empowerment and an enabling team spirit, nothing is impossible. |
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InterAction meets in South Africa |
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The Concept of Ubuntu was high on the agenda, as the British Council hosted the annual Trust the Difference Leadership Programme meeting in Johannesburg in early January. |
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Crossing Borders alumnus |
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For Zimbabwean Tinashe Mushakavanhu, writing is more than just a pen dancing on a piece of paper - it’s his bread and butter. |
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Look at me exhibition |
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The British Council in Cape Town, in collaboration with South African author Marlene le Roux, hosted an exhibition reshaping the image of women with disabilities. |
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Excursions in my Mind |
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Writer and former Chevening scholar doesn’t restrict himself to one field of knowledge. |
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Climate Change Workshop |
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The aim of this workshop was to build a regional team for the development and delivery of the British Council’s climate work. |
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Cameroon Connecting Classrooms |
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We aim to strengthen ties between schools and communities within Cameroon, across Africa and with the different countries of the United Kingdom and trigger dialogue and debate. |
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International School Award |
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Hard work and commitment pays off for English school as it receives International School Award status from the British Council as a result of a partnership with three South African schools. |
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Women in Sierra Leone |
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In a country that was ravaged by war, where women were sidelined politically and silenced socially, the British Council is helping the 50/50 Group to run empowering workshops. |
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Ghana IYCE Award |
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The British Council and iBurst Africa have teamed up to invest in creative young communications entrepreneurs. |
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Ngwabi School |
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As a result of an ongoing partnership with Ngwabi Primary School in KwaZulu-Natal, Oratory Preparatory School in the UK recently garnered an international status award from the British Council. |
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WaPi Uganda |
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WaPi is an initiative that allows up-and-coming artists to talk about and draw attention to issues of concern to them – social, political and economic. |
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Abuja Nunyi |
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Abuja Nunyi, which means ‘this is Abuja’ in the Gbagyi language, is a product of the 2005-2006 British Council and Lancaster University Crossing Borders online writing and mentoring project, which Abdullahi participated in. |
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Uganda Premier Skills |
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Former Premier League footballers Warren Barton and Robbie Earle and three Premier League coaches recently delivered a week-long face-to-face coaching programme to 40 participants in Uganda. |
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Climate Change Programme |
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The Climate Change Programme project will help people understand why issues around climate change need to be tackled now. |
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Dreams + Teams |
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Sport can be a way to the top – and not only for the fastest, strongest or most prolific goal-scorers. It’s also an activity where leadership and organisation skills can flourish. |
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Climate Solutions |
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The President of Nigeria, Umaru Yar’Adua, and British Council Chair Neil Kinnock recently had a series of meetings in Nigeria and agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on climate change. |
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Young Alumnus Award |
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This year’s award winner, Dr Zikusoka (38), obtained a Bachelors Degree in Veterinary Medicine from the University of London and that was the beginning of her many achievements. |
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London 2012 |
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People all around the world celebrated on Sunday 24 August – the moment when London became Olympic host city for the 2012 Olympic Games. |
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Peacekeeping with English |
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The aim of the project is to teach soldiers in Africa to communicate effectively in English. For these soldiers, who are involved in UN peacekeeping initiatives throughout Africa, this is particularly helpful in order to communicate effectively with soldiers from other countries. |
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Cantabile Quartet |
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Cantabile – the Singing Quartet’s visit to Mozambique was yet another move towards inter-cultural exchange between the UK and Mozambique. |
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IYMEA award |
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According to the British Council’s Creative Economy website, the IYME award is open to entrepreneurs aged 25 to 35 who work in the music industry in developing countries. The award is now in its second year. |
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Creating Leaders |
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‘Insightful’, ‘encouraging’ and ‘thought-provoking’ – that’s what people thought of From Hippos to Gazelles: How Leaders Create Leaders, when the book was launched at a recent British Council event. |
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Cameroon Zoomers |
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Zigoto Tchameni, the first film maker to win the Chevening Scholarship, is hoping to use his acquired skills to help others. |
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Dr Quin Wills |
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Quin Wills received the British Chevening Scholarship in 2005 and, as a brilliant scholar, subsequently received a Commonwealth Scholarship for a Doctoral thesis at Oxford the following year. |
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MOJ of the Antartic |
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A play based on the true story of Ellen Craft, an African-American slave who lived in the 1920s. MOJ evades a life of slavery by disguising herself as a white man and escaping to freedom in the South Pole. |
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WAPI lights up Africa |
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WAPI (Words and Pictures), a British Council Creative Lives initiative, set its focus on giving young creatives in Ghana a place to express themselves through their arts and develop entrepreneurial skills. |
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IYDEY Award 2008 |
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Tsai is South Africa’s 2008 International Young Design Entrepreneur of the Year Award(IYDE) finalist. |
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Global Xchange UK final |
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Young people from the UK and South Africa are on their way to a community in Wales to complete the second half of their volunteer experience, organised by the British Council’s Global Xchange initiative. |
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Namibia still going strong |
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With only two members of staff, and a country manager based in Johannesburg, the British Council Namibia is one of the smallest British Council offices in Africa. |
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Cape Town Book Fair |
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The Cape Town Book Fair is an annual exhibition where publishers, authors, students and readers can share ideas, acquire new skills and learn more about books that are making waves. |
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Zimbabwe HIFA |
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“Put me under water ... Bury me with 47 tons of iron ... I will burst through with my lyrical fist ... Causing asthmatic and epileptic fits ...” – Zimbabwean artist, Outspoken (Power in the Voice mentor). |
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Ghana IYPAEY Award |
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Abiko Eghagha, the winner of the first International Young Performing Arts Entrepreneurs of the Year (IYPAEY) competition in Accra, Ghana, is ready to jet off to the UK to take on the best of the best. |
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ICC Japan |
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Following the success of a London conference, teenagers from 13 countries around the globe recently met in Japan to discuss climate change. |
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Encounters Film Festival |
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Ten years ago, local filmmakers were rarely given an opportunity to screen their work. That changed with the establishment of an annual documentary film festival, Encounters. |
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African science cafés |
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The British Council in Africa tries to change the perception of science and brings ordinary people on board using a vehicle called African science cafés. |
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Connecting Classrooms |
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An interview with the project manger of Connecting Classrooms, Sub-Saharan Africa, Jane Henry. |
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A new home for English |
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Teachers of English have a new resource to help them in meeting the world’s seemingly unquenchable demand for English. |
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Global Xchange Ghana |
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Ghanaian and UK volunteers who recently participated in an intercultural volunteer programme are eager to share their stories about this life changing experience. |
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Debate to Action |
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On March 9, 2008, nine hundred people got on their bicycles to ride through Bolgatanga, Ghana, in an event dubbed “I Ride for Development”. |
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Botswana Music Festival |
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British Council in Botswana hosts music festival after Gaborone premiere of The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. |
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The Challenge 2007 Ghana |
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Participants in a British Council reality TV show in Ghana have made a real impact with their videos on controversial topics such as sanitation and service delivery in Accra, Ghana. |
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Global Xchange Initiative |
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The Global Xchange Initiative is a six-month exchange programme that offers young people the opportunity to share their skills and make a contribution to needy communities, while personally benefiting from intercultural exchange. |
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Leaders for change |
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InterAction is designed to strengthen future leaders in Africa and project a more positive image of the continent. |
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Commonwealth Scholarship |
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The Commonwealth Scholarships offer students from Commonwealth countries the opportunity to experience UK education and culture. Read about one African recipients experiences studying in Edinburgh, and how it broadened his horizons. |
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Power in the Voice |
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Two thousand five hundred years ago, China’s most famous philosopher, Confucius, described words as “the voice of the heart”. We are bringing this philosophy to life in 2008 with our Power in the Voice campaign. |
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Science News |
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The seminar, entitled “Exploring the role of food scientists and nutritionists in human health and environmental sustainability”, is a collaboration between British Council South Africa and Southern Science. |
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Climate Change |
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Staff members from sub-Saharan Africa met in Tanzania last week to discuss how the British Council in Africa could develop a powerful response to climate change, instead of becoming a victim of its effects. |
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Workjam - a Global Community |
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On February 20, 2008, the British Council launched a new website for young people dealing with issues of employment. |
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World Economic Forum |
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In February 2008, the town of Davos in Switzerland welcomed the youngest-ever participants to the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting. |
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