Wearing Hope: How War Child UK is Uniting Football and Art to Spotlight Forgotten Conflicts
The conflict in the Central African Republic (CAR) represents an intense humanitarian tragedy; the severity of which is difficult to overstate. Often overshadowed by other global crises, the conflict has been raging for over a decade, leaving the country in a perpetual state of instability. The CAR ranks as the most at-risk country globally for humanitarian crises and disasters – a status driven by unrelenting violence, poverty, and institutional collapse. It is also estimated that nearly half of its population live under constant threat, with one in two lacking access to health services, and a significant portion suffering from malnutrition.
The fact this conflict goes largely unnoticed by the international community works to only amplify the suffering.
War Child United’s latest initiative works to intersect sport, culture, and advocacy by tapping into football’s global reach to shine a light on some of the world’s most overlooked conflicts. The brainchild of War Child UK, this project harnesses the cultural resurgence of football shirts, merging the symbolic power of the game with the poignant narratives of young people in conflict-affected regions.
At its heart, the project prioritises authentic storytelling, giving full creative control to youth designers in places like CAR. The inaugural shirt, emblazoned with the message “Zo Kwe Zo” – meaning “All people are people”, exemplifies the spirit of equality, and dignity, while challenging the world’s limited attention to CAR’s forgotten conflict.
The “Zo Kwe Zo” shirt is the first of 14 unique designs planned by War Child United, with each shirt crafted by youth from regions ravaged by war. Through this collaboration, War Child fosters a sense of ownership and empowerment for young designers, while also navigating logistical complexities across borders. Beyond aesthetics, each shirt acts as a vital reminder of the need for unity and action. All profits from the sales of the shirts will go directly to War Child UK, supporting its mission to protect, educate, and advocate for young people trapped in war zones.
LBB> Can you tell us about the inception of the War Child United series and what inspired you to use football shirts as a way to raise awareness for children affected by conflict?
George> War Child United drew from the rise of the football shirt into new cultural spaces like nightlife, festivals and fashion, thanks to the broader growth of football culture with to the rise of women’s football amongst other factors. Being a charity deeply rooted in music, as well as personally seeing firsthand the increasing popularity of football shirts at festivals and as part of the ‘blokecore’ trend in streetwear, it occurred that there is a real opportunity to utilise football shirts’ abilities to spark curiosity, start conversations and catch people’s eyes for education, fundraising and raising awareness. By doing something unique, we could use this platform to raise awareness of conflicts, culture and young people in the regions where War Child works and try to use a really great cultural development to challenge the limited coverage many conflicts and those impacted by them receive.
LBB> How did you facilitate collaboration between the design team in the Central African Republic and the project team here in the UK? What were some of the key challenges in managing this cross-border creative process?
George> Zo Kwe Zo is such an important shirt, not only because it challenges the ‘forgotten’ nature of the conflict in CAR while spotlighting the incredible vision of young people in the country, but also because it has been an incredibly informative pilot for how we manage War Child United. As a project more broadly, the way we have planned War Child United is entirely unique for football shirt design. Creatively, the purpose of War Child United is that designs are untouched by War Child or by the manufacturer, as the shirts are authentic stories and visions that need to be told. This creative independence is so important because in most of War Child’s countries of operation, young people make up the overwhelming majority of the population. As inheritors of their country’s present realities, as well as being future leaders, their stories are the ones that should be broadcast as far as possible, and so creatively, the restriction that no one beyond the design team should contribute to the design was actually a really simple one to uphold, as it was in inseparable from the project’s purpose.
We didn’t just want to give young people the entire creative say, which they exclusively had, but we also wanted to ensure that the project was equitable and that they would benefit long term. Beyond considerations such as remittance for their time, as well as space to organise, a resource budget and further funding for them to use autonomously for their own creative projects (or for their own needs in a conflict-impacted country), we also had the challenge of managing how much we were asking of the young people involved.
Starting with a creative brief to recommend conversations to help start the design process, we realised that there were further information and content needs for us to build the campaign at home, which we didn’t fully factor into the brief. This was a challenge, but as our relationship with the group lead and the wider team was built on trust and experience, as well as being reinforced by tangible funding and logistical support, we were able to time our needs to not ask too much of the group without due consideration for them and their situations. This was a vital learning for future shirts, as we now know to front load more of what we’ll likely need to help grow the campaign in the original brief, so that more work can be completed within the initial project window of seven days, rather than further requests being needed down the line.
Some other minor challenges included unreliable WiFi (which is very limited in CAR, even at our office) and the fact we speak different languages, although we were able to manage this thanks to our wonderful bilingual colleagues in CAR, some French speakers in our London office and good old google translate.
LBB> The message ‘Zo Kwe Zo’ translates to ‘All People are People’ – tell me about what this means on a personal level and why it was chosen as the central theme for the shirt?
George> To quote our design team, ZO KWÉ ZO is a ‘symbol of hospitality and humanity’. It draws from one of the founders of the Central African Republic, Barthélémy Boganda, who played a major role in shaping the country’s identity following French colonialism. A saying in Sango, the country’s primary language, it loosely translates to ‘all people are people’, or ‘every human being is a person’, and is an assertion of equality and dignity. As outlined by the design team, ‘it is truly a philosophy of humanism, unity, equality and balance strongly respected by all Central Africans’. Even now, this is a message that should inspire us all and remind us that all people deserve to be treated with the fullest degree of humanity.
LBB> Could you describe the design process – how were the young people involved in translating their experiences and cultural symbols into the shirt’s visual elements?
George> The design process ran for a seven day period and was completely autonomous and youth-led. Beyond a design brief, which included some carefully curated questions, designed to be open and start (but not direct) conversations, as well as resources like templates to draw on and collar ideas, we really left it up to them. At the end of a broader ten day period, which we facilitated to help our group lead, David, make preparations to organise the group and transfer files/photos, we received and then forwarded the designs to Kitlocker, who started to work on bringing the designs to life!
As a starting point, we asked the team to consider the culture of their region, the character of people in CAR, as well as things like any important symbols or colours that they might want to include. Ultimately, we found that much of this information came in the group’s presentation, which is helping me write this article and is important for our wider storytelling.
Elements like the meaning of the colours they chose were fascinating, as for example, the group pivoted from yellow and green, the two prominent colours of CAR, to blue and white. A visible change during the process, their rationale was that blue represented a symbol of “stability, trust, loyalty, truth”, while white reflected “innocence, simplicity, purity, forgiveness”. This is an example of the cultural discourse we were so happy to be able to facilitate for young people and actually learn from ourselves. In their words, “starting from the five colours of the flag, we have highlighted two colours, namely blue and white”. “In this way we wish to transmit a message of stability, forgiveness, peace, of a new Central Africa”. This idea of a new Central Africa, led by the Central African youth, seems rooted in a wider post-conflict approach that the group took. In one of the designers’ words, “CAR has been through a lot, but we hope that we – the Central African youth – can first change our mindset and want to evolve”. “Changing our hearts, we need to forgive ourselves and unite to make our country a better place”. “Together we can prove that we are proud to be Central Africans”.
The process, much like football shirts as a construct really, was both an experiential and cultural exercise, and is to me something so important and unique about War Child United, particularly in the contexts in which our shirts are designed.
LBB> What role does football play in the lives of young people in conflict zones like the Central African Republic, and how does War Child United hope to harness the power of sport to bring about change?
George> As the world’s most popular sport, we know that football is a universal language with the power to bring people together, even in the face of some of the most difficult circumstances people can experience. In the Central African Republic, War Child has specifically used football as part of a project called War Child FC to help children who have formerly been associated with armed groups, survived sexual and gender-based violence, or have been separated from their families to heal from the psychological impacts of war by creating safe environments in which they can heal through play.
Reconnecting with themselves as well as their peers, we’ve found that the beautiful game can help to re-engage children’s ability to communicate, to feel comfortable, to work with others and many more incredible effects. In this regard, football can help children reconnect with their childhoods, a vital part of the psychological healing process if children are to go on to become healthy, happy adults.
War Child United hopes to harness another side of the beautiful game – its power to transmit experience, understanding, intrigue and passion through the football shirt. In this way, we hope to platform young people’s experiences and transmit their vision as a means of educating and raising awareness of the world’s conflict-impacted countries, platforming the voices that should be heard the loudest while working in true collaboration and partnership with local populations in the process.
LBB> Can you give us insight into how the lion imagery and the colours of the CAR flag were selected and what they represent to the designers?
George> The symbols on the shirt were also very interesting.
The five colours of the CAR’s flag were inputted into the lion claw as one of the animals to which the “Central African is culturally identified with”, according to our team. In this way, the lion claw is a universal symbol for all Central Africans.
Alongside the spider, or terë, “a symbol of wisdom”, the lion, or bamara, is one of the country’s two prominent symbols.
‘236’, at the bottom of the shirt, represents the area code for the country, and as outlined by our group, “the importance of living together”.
Lastly, it’s worth mentioning that the group, not us at War Child, chose to include War Child’s logo at the bottom of the shirt!
LBB> From a logistical standpoint, what were the biggest hurdles in producing and launching this shirt, especially when working with partners like Kitlocker and Umbro?
George> I think the first time doing anything presents challenges, but for us, we have been lucky to benefit from a very positive relationship with Kitlocker, who have been great to work with during every process, ranging from design fulfilment to ecommerce and more. We have been fortunate to collaborate with Kitlocker as part of their wider commitment to initiatives such as Grenfell Athletic FC and Kick Start FC, among others.
It’s worth mentioning that Kitlocker facilitates the Umbro brand licence, and that Umbro actually have not actually been involved at any stage during the project.
The process of launching a shirt has been quite the undertaking for War Child, as this is not our bread and butter. For me personally, I’ve had to do a huge amount of learning, networking and reflecting, as this has been a fast-tracked experience in understanding a new industry and football shirts more broadly. I’ve also had to understand the timelines of the industry, and how future War Child United projects can be more efficient, balancing War Child’s calendar alongside the football season and kit launch moments of the year while being mindful of the capacity of future project groups.
One key learning was that getting eyes-on-shirts was critical, and as we continue to release content and approach new brands, audiences and individuals to help share the message of Zo Kwe Zo, I want to thank our many talented pro-bono partners who’ve made such a new undertaking possible. They are Formidable Media, Andrew Whitton Photography, W Communications, Davenport Creative and Hired Hands Models. Together we have created a visual campaign worthy of the efforts of our amazing team in CAR. I also want to thank Ross Stirling, creative ambassador for War Child UK, for his work as creative director in building our campaign and brand identity.
LBB> With this being the first of 14 planned shirt releases, how will each upcoming shirt reflect the unique challenges and cultures of other regions impacted by conflict?
George> I think the opportunity presented by War Child United is that followers of the campaign will be able to learn about many different cultures and communities through the visions and voices of people they may otherwise never interact with, and go on to advocate for these communities even through the simple act of wearing a shirt out and about.
At the heart of this is the autonomy given to young people during the design process, which means that each release will continue to reveal authentic perspectives and experiences while educating the owner, adding value to all of us who wear a War Child United shirt. War Child and our partners will never influence a shirt’s design, and it is up to young people to reflect the unique challenges and cultures they feel are important to educate the wider world about using the beautiful game. It’s worth also saying that young people are free to surprise us, and the very nature of not knowing what they’ll produce is something exciting and worth following. Each shirt is a platform for them to use and us to fulfil while raising vital awareness and funds for local and international War Child work.
I don’t want to give too much away, but I know that some of the communities we hope to work with, much like with Zo Kwe Zo, are likely to give followers totally unique insights into culture and conflict, as well as further entrench the value of football to young people experiencing conflict.
LBB> What impact do you hope the sales and visibility of this shirt will have on the work War Child is doing, both in the CAR and other conflict-affected regions?
George> Every wearer of a War Child United shirt is an ambassador for young people impacted by conflict, both globally and in the specific context from which that shirt is drawn. By even wearing a shirt and having a conversation about it, which is easily achieved thanks to the intrigue that football shirts attract, we can all raise awareness of the conflicts of the world and inspire others to stand in solidarity with those affected, either by educating others or by buying a shirt and raising vital funds for our response.
This has a really tangible impact, as raising awareness of conflicts like the one in the Central African Republic directly challenges the norm of ‘forgotten conflicts’, those that receive little airtime in politics and media, and for which it is significantly challenging to fundraise and raise awareness for as a result. Even among more well known conflicts, wearers will platform voices that need to be heard and help to invite really important dialogues about these contexts which can further humanise those involved, while promoting their culture – something that war can mask.
Alongside helping to educate and raise awareness, the funds raised from each shirt are split between War Child’s local and international work, so each shirt has the potential to support local children and young people impacted by conflict while also supporting children and young people impacted by war internationally.
This is a project rooted in community, so please consider supporting War Child United by buying a shirt and helping to spread the word!
Singuila! (Thanks!)
