COMMONWEALTH GAMES CANADA TO PROVIDE GLOBAL SUPPORT TO BEYOND SPORT AWARD 2013 WINNERS
RELEASE: 1 October 2013, Ottawa – Commonwealth Games Canada(CGC) has had a long history of designing and delivering sustainable sport programs and building sport system capacity in developing countries. The CGC is pleased to enhance its work in this area through a new partnership announced today, with the Beyond Sport Foundation.
The Beyond Sport Foundation invests in inspirational people and projects that use sport to create and drive positive social change in some of the most disadvantaged and excluded populations in the world's support of sport for social change programmes around the world. The Foundation’s work has been further enhanced through a new agreement with the CGC, which will provide six months of pro bono consultancy to five winners of the Beyond Sport Awards 2013.
Through Commonwealth Games Canada’s SportWORKS program (www.commonwealthgames.ca/sportworks) a Canadian sport industry expert will visit each of the projects for an initial two weeks, before delivering a six-month project with the goal of creating and implementing a tailored strategy to allow the organisations to develop and grow a specific element of their work.
The organisations which the Commonwealth Games Canada will support are:
- YUWA(Sport for Social Inclusion Award, supported by Barclays) - which uses football to engage with young girls in the poorest areas of India, working to empower them and provide them with skills.
- Skateistan Kabul(UNICEF Sport for Education Award) - which uses skateboarding as a hook along with a special teaching curriculum to teach children in Afghanistan who otherwise would not receive education.
- Jugando por la Libertad(Sport for Conflict Resolution Award, supported by Comic Relief) - a Colombian capoeira-based programme for children and youth affected by extreme violence, poverty and forced displacement.
- Moving the Goalposts Kilifi(Sport for Health Award, supported by Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals) - which educates participants in Kenya on safe sexual practices, as well as empowering girls in the community through football training, leagues, games, and coaching programmes.
- Sports for Juvenile Justice(Best New Project) – which enrols juvenile offenders in Philadelphia in diverse sports programmes, seeking to decrease their further involvement in the juvenile justice system.
Brian MacPherson, Chief Executive Officer of Commonwealth Games Canada, commented: "Commonwealth Games Canada believes that sport has an opportunity to change lives, both here in Canada and around the globe, and we have seen evidence of this through our SportWORKS programs. We are pleased to partner with the Beyond Sport Foundation on this initiative, and delighted to be supporting these five projects."
Nick Keller, the Founder of Beyond Sport, added: "Consultancy such as Commonwealth Games Canada will be providing to these incredible organisations can help them to take the next step – through replication, growth, improvement of their fundraising or management, or in numerous other ways. We look forward to seeing how these projects develop in the years to come."
“The SportWORKS program will provide Canadian sport leaders with opportunities to share our country’s expertise around the world,” said the Honourable Bal Gosal, Minister of State (Sport). “Our Government is proud to support the development of sport, both here and abroad.”
The support forms part of a wide-ranging package that Beyond Sport Award winners receive from the Beyond Sport Foundation and a range of partners, including consultancy, funding, global profile and business support.
The winners of the Beyond Sport Awards 2013 were unveiled at the Beyond Sport Summit in Philadelphia earlier this month.
ABOUT COMMONWEALTH GAMES CANADA
Commonwealth Games Canada (CGC) is the franchise holder for the Commonwealth sport movement in Canada. The mission of CGC is to strengthen sport within Canada and throughout the Commonwealth by participating in the Commonwealth Games and by using sport as a social development tool in Canada and abroad. Visit www.commonwealthgames.cafor information.
ABOUT BEYOND SPORT
The Beyond Sport Foundation invests in inspirational people and projects that use sport to create and drive positive social change in some of the most disadvantaged and excluded populations in the world.
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For additional information:
Adam Fraser Brian MacPherson
Head of Communications Chief Executive Officer
Beyond Sport Commonwealth Games Canada
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7240 7700 Tel: 1-613-244-6868
Email: adam@beyondsport.org Email: brian@commonwealthgames.ca
Photo 1: Skateistan Kabul (credit: Beyond Sport)
Photo 2: Jugando por la Libertad, Columbia (credit: Beyond Sport)
