Prince Harry bestows SportWORKS with an Innovation For Sustainable Development Award

Commonwealth Games Canada (CGC) is proud to announce its SportWORKS program is the recipient of an Innovation for Sustainable Development Award recently proffered by the Commonwealth.

The Innovation for Sustainable Development Awards recognise, celebrate and showcase impactful innovations and forward-looking solutions which help Commonwealth countries advance the Commonwealth charter values and one or more of the 17 global sustainable development goals. This is the first year of the awards, which were open to all citizens and organisations of the Commonwealth’s 53 countries. For more information on the Awards and the ceremony, visit: http://thecommonwealth.org/media/news/duke-sussex-presents-innovation-awards-commonwealth-70th-anniversary-garden-party.

The award presentation ceremony was held June 14^th, 2019 during the Commonwealth 70^th anniversary celebration, at Commonwealth headquarters in Marlborough House, London. The Duke of Sussex, Prince Harry, who is the Commonwealth Youth Ambassador, presented the award.

Under the vision and leadership of Roy McMurtry, Judy Kent, Bruce Kidd and others, the Government of Canada and CGC created the SportWORKS Program in 1993. For more than a quarter century, SportWORKS has integrated social development through sport in over 125 local sport projects in 30 Commonwealth countries enriching the lives of more than two million youth.

"This is such strong international recognition of our SportWORKS Program” said Richard Powers, CGC President. “We are proud of the impact we have had in so many countries enhancing individual and community social development and building national sport system capacity. In addition, the program has been a great tool for developing future community and sport leaders for Canada. SportWORKS Officers, who work on the ground abroad, return to Canada with new skills, experiences and maturity. Over half of the SportWORKS officers end up working in Canada’s sport and youth focused non-for-profit sector.”

SportWORKS initiatives focus on the empowerment of women and girls, the promotion of gender equity, youth leadership development, HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention, and the building of sport capacity. Over the years, SportWORKS’ programming has been delivered through a variety of initiatives, including currently through the Queen Elizabeth Scholars Program. More information on CGC's international sport for development projects, partners, and people can be found at: https://commonwealthgames.ca/sportworks