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Zinédine Zidane, world football legend and UNDP Goodwill Ambassador, to visit projects to combat poverty in Niger.

Zinédine Zidane.

Geneva. 29 November 2007 — Zinédine Zidane, former captain of the French national football team, will arrive in Niamey, the capital of Niger, on 8 December in his capacity as Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for a two-day visit to see first hand anti-poverty projects in the West African country.

The sites that Zinédine Zidane will visit during his mission are supported by the Niger Government and the United Nations system, and in particular by UNDP. 

He will start by touring one of the school centres in Niamey where the “Schoolnet” project initiated in 2004 provides primary schools with computer equipment and Internet connection.  UNDP plans to provide the Niger educational system with 400 computers a year, making it possible to equip 40 schools and reach some 20, 000 students.  The initiative is the result of a partnership between UNDP and the Niger Government.

Zidane will also visit a  project which aims to reduce poverty and food insecurity through the diversification of species of fish in man-made lakes in the Tilabéri region.  The project, which also started in 2004, has set up an experimental station to supply fish farms with large quantities of baby fish, to help meet the nutritional requirements of children and women in the area. This also increases the incomes of women  who sell fish for a living, thereby helping to reduce poverty.

Accepting the invitation of Niger’s national football federation (FENIFOOT), Zidane will visit the Technical Football Centre where he will meet  the young trainees and share his football experience.  He will also kick off a demonstration match organised in his honour.  The centre, which covers a total area of 12 hectares, was set up by FENIFOOT with funds from the International Federation of Football Associations.  The centre’s mission is to train young athletes and to provide academic and professional training for young people.

During the second part of his trip, Zidane will pay a courtesy visit to the President of the Republic of Niger, H.E. Mamadou Tandja, and will also visit a number of projects that are part of the “Special Programme of the President of the Republic”, launched by the President in 2001.  The Special Programme is the result of guidelines set out in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Document drawn up by Niger with assistance from UNDP.  The works to fill the accumulation of shortfalls in the country’s social infrastructures and to make the rural sector an engine for economic development and poverty reduction.  So far, it has provided rural areas with basic socio-economic infrastructure.  The programme is funded by resources released by the global initiative to relieve the debt of heavily indebted poor countries.

“I’m really enthusiastic about visiting all these activities that are so important”, Zidane said.  “I always wanted, after retiring from professional football, to visit this part of Africa and make a contribution, as best I can, paying particular attention to Niger,” he said.

Niger has for a long time been at the bottom of the human development scale measured by the Human Development Index (HDI) featured in UNDP’s annual Human Development Report, but this year it has risen by three places.  Closer study shows that, not only has the value of its HDI been increasing constantly since 1990 but average life expectancy has increased by ten years, the level of school attendance has risen by eight per cent, and the level of adult literacy has jumped by 17 per cent.  The level of per capita income still needs to continue its upward movement, after a dip registered in 2000.  It is, therefore, important that a substantial increase in foreign aid and strong partnerships between the various development players should support the Niger’s efforts  to generate and boost the economic growth needed to reduce poverty among its population.

“UNDP is honoured to have someone as popular as Zinédine Zidane among our Goodwill Ambassadors”, said Ms Khardiata Lo N'Diaye, UNDP’s Resident Representative and Resident Coordinator of the United Nations System in Niamey.  “His visit to Niger will focus the attention of the whole world on the considerable challenges that the people of Niger have to face every day.  My colleagues and I really admire Zidane’s commitment to improving the living conditions of the men and women here in Niger and elsewhere in the world.”

Zidane was appointed UNDP Goodwill Ambassador in 2001; his mission is to mobilise citizens all over the world in favour of the fight against poverty.  He joined forces with the Brazilian football star Ronaldo, who later became his team mate at the Real Madrid football club to launch the UNDP “Teams to End Poverty” initiative, and to feature in press and television advertisements  to promote the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).  These Goals, adopted in 2000 by 191 Heads of State and Government, seek to halve poverty by 2015 and set targets to reduce hunger, illiteracy, disease, environmental degradation and discrimination against women.
Ronaldo and  Zidane also joined forces to spearhead the “Match Against Poverty” in 2003.  This is a yearly event that brings together famous football players and raises funds for  projects to combat poverty throughout the world.  More than two million dollars have been raised so far for 25 projects in 24 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Zidane is one of the most famous athletes in the world.  He began his career in France before embarking on a career in a number of European football clubs.  Apart from his many successes in these clubs, he was also selected 108 times for the French national team, and scored 31 goals in international matches.  Nicknamed “Zizou” he stunned fans by capturing the 1998 World and 2000 European crowns for France and scoring the winning goal in Real Madrid's 2002 Champions' League triumph, thus joining the soccer greats of all time.  In 2002, suffering from injury, he was a member of the team when France was eliminated at an early stage in the World Cup in Korea and Japan, and later was to lead France up to the final in the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

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UNDP is the world development network within the United Nations system.  It advocates change, and links countries to the knowledge, experience and skills their populations need to improve their lives.  We are present in the field in 166 countries, helping them to identify their own solutions to the national and global challenges they face in terms of development.  These countries may at any time call on UNDP’s staff and wide range of partners to reinforce their own abilities.