Activate! On-line from Nelson Thornes Publishers

The activity here focuses on the role of multinational sports companies. Their sponsorship of football as well as their direct production and sale of sport goods is considered. This lesson is intended to serve as a basic introduction to the impact of multinational companies and to encourage students to think about the ways in which many of the activities we engage in are influenced by, or directly linked to, the work of these companies. Once this link is established there are several resources and websites which will help students gain a deeper understanding of the role of multinational companies and the ways in which the global economy links us to others around the world. Activate! 3, Enquiries into Global Citizenship , the Activate! Year 9 book, contains some further information on such issues. Other resources are listed in the Oxfam catalogue (www.oxfam.org.uk). Many of these will be available from your local Development Education Centre.

	Specific Advantages of Stitching
	Despite low rates of pay, many families see stitching as a good option. The principal advantage cited by participants in both the survey and focus groups, is that stitching can be done at home, in one's own time. Thus it can be fitted in with other household chores. This makes it one of the few income-earning options available to women and adolescent girls, for whom working at home is highly desirable. It also means that children can combine school and work. Working at home may be less intimidating for children and women than working for a stranger. It may also reduce the risk of abuse. Stitching requires no special tools or equipment, or setting aside a particular place to work, and is clean. Unlike embroidery, which has similar advantages, there is a ready market for footballs, meaning that there is a guaranteed income.

	Key Findings
	The vast majority of children stitch footballs because they are poor
	Eighty-one per cent stitch to help their families meet basic needs, such as food, clothing, fodder for the family's animals, and education. Families where children stitch footballs are, in general, considerably poorer than those without children stitching. The need for children to supplement household income has increased in recent years as the purchasing power of poor households has declined.
	Stitching footballs does not necessarily prevent children from attending school
	Rather, they work because their families need the income, and cannot afford to send them to school. Seventy-two per cent of non-school-going child-stitchers do not attend school because their families cannot afford to send them. Twenty-four per cent prefer to work because the low-quality education available does not offer them useful skills for the future. Although only 20 per cent of child-stitchers attend school, 58 per cent have received some education.
	Stopping children from stitching balls will significantly reduce family income
	On average, children's earnings from football stitching represent 23 per cent of household income. In many families there are no unemployed adults or older siblings who can take over stitching from children.
	Stitching footballs is less hazardous than other forms of work open to children
	Unlike surgical-instruments manufacture and brick-making, two important local industries, football stitching does not involve exposure to heat, sharp tools, toxic substances or dust particles that can cause respiratory diseases. Other advantages are that: it can be done at home, making it one of the few options open to women and girls, and meaning that it can be fitted around schooling and household chores; and that it requires no special equipment. It is therefore perceived as a better option than these other forms of work.
	The main disadvantage of football stitching is that it is poorly paid compared to other employment opportunities, particularly for adult men
	A person stitching three footballs per day would be unable to meet all the needs of an average family of 7.9 people from this work alone. Increasing payments per ball for adult stitchers would reduce the need for children to work.
	Children and adults receive equal pay for work of equal quality
	Where deductions are made for poor-quality stitching, children's earnings may be lower than those of adults, as children and other inexperienced stitchers usually make more mistakes. Premium-quality balls, which fetch the highest rates, are generally stitched by adults.
	Prolonged stitching from a young age can cause damage to finger joints, back pain, headaches and eye strain
	Where children are stitching full-time with few breaks, their health may be endangered. However, in most cases, children and women rarely stitch uninterrupted for hours at a time, but do so between other household tasks, such as childcare, cooking and feeding animals, and leisure activities, such as playing cricket or skipping.
	Stitching families are not bonded by debt to particular manufacturers
	Children generally stitch to assist their families to produce more balls, rather than to pay back debts incurred by their parents or previous generations. The small advances provided to stitching families by some contractors function as a cheap credit system and do not result in debt bondage.