On 15 August 2007 the 2010 National Communication Partnership (NCP) held its second annual conference. At the conference, communicators from the African continent discussed how best to take advantage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ to positively project Africa to the world, to take advantage of the opportunity to build African solidarity and to foster a climate that contributes to African growth and development.

The first African World Cup provides a unique communication opportunity for Africans to tell their own stories of the continent.

By taking advantage in this way of the opportunity provided by the 2010 World Cup, Africa will create as a legacy of 2010 a strengthened capacity to insert its own content into international information and communication flows.

The conference theme - ‘Africa’s time has come’ - celebrates the continent’s joy and pride at being at long last the host of the world’s most popular tournament. It expresses the continent’s confidence that the 21st Century is a century of African growth and development in Africa. It expresses a resolve to ensure that the 2010 World Cup contributes to that progress South Africa, the African Union, FIFA and the Organising Committee have committed that the 2010 World Cup will contribute to a 21st Century of growth and development in Africa and provide momentum to the African renaissance.

One of the biggest impacts from hosting the World Cup will come from the phenomenal marketing and communication opportunity it will offer the country and continent. That is why communicators from across the continent have a vital role to play in achieving this continental commitment to a truly African world cup and one that leaves a legacy for Africa. In South Africa a 2010 National Communication Partnership has been established to ensure that the country's communicators make the most of this opportunity of a lifetime. To fully achieve the vision of an African World Cup this must be extended to create linkages and partnership with communicators across the continent and in the diaspora. This year's Partnership conference is one step in this ongoing process.

Conference objectives

To create an opportunity for African communicators to engage and exchange ideas and concrete suggestions on how to define the Continent’s image and reputation in the world, based on the opportunities presented by the first FIFA World Cup on the Continent in 2010.

The conference will enable African communicators to:

• Develop and propagate a common vision and objectives for communication for the first African World Cup;
• Develop a shared understanding of the potential catalytic impact of the 2010 FIFA World Cup on the Continent’s image and reputation in the international arena;
• Develop a framework and interventions to leverage the 2010 event as a means to strengthen Africa’s capacity to market itself and build a stronger and balanced profile in international information and communication flows;
• Develop concrete mechanisms and formats for partnership, networking and alliances among communicators on the Continent;
• Initiate a process that will create consistent and mutually reinforcing communication on 2010-related developments at country and Continental level;
• Interrogate how the communication approach developed by South Africa as host country could support an African Communication Partnership.