To do, you begin with ... Fazer ABC.

• Author: Dos Santos, Carlos
• Position: Initiative UN Information Centre

The reading of the text of the 1996 United Nations System-wide Special Initiative on Africa which, at a certain point, says "Africa virtually lives today on the edge of survival and its prospects are frightening if current trends continue", has prompted an imaginative initiative by the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) in Lisbon. Its Director, Carlos dos Santos, contributes this report.

A continent with vast potential poised on the edge of survival. This reflection led the Centre to contact various African artists and instil this idea: the time has come for Africans living away from Africa to do something for their continent; something to foster awareness of its critical situation, mobilize badly needed resources and disseminate the African culture as a way to promote understanding among the peoples of the world. The time has come for them to stop just sitting and waiting for the international community, through the United Nations, its agencies and programmes, to help Africa.

The idea was fruitful and that was why the "Fazer" ("to do", in Portuguese) Initiative was born and formally presented to the public on 12 December 1996 at a ceremony aimed at celebrating the Human Rights Day.

The ever-increasing number of Fazer members wished to give their contribution, but did not know how to begin, and lacked all kind of resources except, of course, their talent and willingness to work. Taking on the responsibility for the challenge, UNIC tried to help Fazer in every way it could. The first step was to help them define the project: "ABC Africa" was the name given to a series of modules, aimed at collecting school materials for distribution among the Portuguese-speaking African countries, at a later stage. Such modules included an "African Gala", "ABC Africa and the Town Council", and "ABC Africa and Lisbon.

The second step was to help Fazer identify other supporters and sponsors* This task was made easier to the United Nations in Portugal by the solution found by African artists, as a means of ensuring the total transparency of the process and avoiding misunderstandings as regards its objectives: no money would be involved in the process; and the tickets would be "purchased" with school materials.

The response from institutions and the civil society was indeed enthusiastic...