21 May 2009
'The Team', a new DFID-funded television series, premières in Kenya tonight and will be seen nationally on Citizen-TV each Thursday. The series was co-produced by Media Focus on Africa Foundation and Search for Common Ground, and funded by the UK's Department for International Development (DFID), in response to last year’s devastating post-election violence. 'The Team' shows how members of a new Kenyan soccer/football club learn to deal with their tribal, ethnic, social and economic divisions.
UK International Development Minister Ivan Lewis said:
"'The Team’ is a fantastic example of how football, and sport in general, is a great uniting force for people around the world. Using soaps to reach out to the developing world is a fresh way of promoting peace and overcoming conflict. The Department for International Development (DFID) has become a world leader for this sort of forward-thinking development project, and I hope projects like this will help bring people together to strengthen efforts towards peace in Africa.”
Watch an episode of The Team:
The series, which was developed, written and directed by Kenyans, tells the stories of seven young Kenyan footballers from different tribes and socio-economic backgrounds, who must overcome their mutual distrust and prejudices so that their team, Imani F.C., has a chance of winning an important tournament. The show aims to shift the way Kenyans think about their neighbours and themselves. Using dramatic television to promote positive social change, the show demonstrates that conflicts may be inevitable, but that everyone can respond to conflict non-violently.
'The Team' was produced with funding from DFID, who is also supporting productions of the series in 10 other countries in Africa and Asia, including Morocco, Côte d’Ivoire, and Nepal.
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Filming the DFID-funded Kenyan television series 'The Team'