Collective Impact Award Winners Promote Climate Action in New Campaign
February 19, 2021
This week, the six organizations awarded the 2019 Sport for Climate Action Collective Impact Award, supported by the Swedish Postcode Foundation have been pushing out a shared message, calling for collective action to protect our planet using the platform of sport.
Unified by the hashtag #SportsNeedClimate, the winners have shared inspirational messages advocating for their communities to educate themselves and take action on climate change.
The campaign is underpinned by the belief that sports can generate meaningful and transformative climate action by promoting greater environmental responsibility. As part of the shared communications effort, the group has compiled a list of educational resources to help those interested find avenues to get involved in the fight to protect our planet.
Learn more about how you can support UN Global Goal 13: Climate Action, here.
The campaign is the product of one of the two 2019 inaugural Collective Impact initiatives. Through a deeper, larger investment, Beyond Sport brought together six incredible organizations from around the world using sport around Global Goal 13 – and provided them with individual funding and a series of facilitated workshops in order to design a collective initiative for greater impact.
“This Collective Impact initiative is a result of our efforts to provide the best ways hard-working organizations in our sector can grow and make strides toward using sport to achieve the Global Goals,” said Beyond Sport Global Advisor, Lex Chalat.
After a series of facilitated workshops, the group set out two primary goals for the initiative: 1) develop capacity within each of the organizations to better tell the story about sport’s role in addressing climate issues, and 2) to then take those learnings and communicate that message externally in a joint communications campaign.
The February 15-19 #SportsNeedClimate campaign is a culmination of that year-long collaboration.
Watch the #SportsNeedClimate campaign video here.
The Sport for Climate Action Collective Impact Award is supported by longtime Beyond Sport partner, the Swedish Postcode Foundation. Its £250,000 donation will help these inspiring projects continue to deliver towards Global Goal 13 for years to come.
“Our commitment to SDG 13 is based in the belief that urgent action is required now and that we all need to work together to achieve a change,” said Marie Dahllöf, Secretary General of the Swedish Postcode Foundation. “Sport can be a fantastic vehicle for change, so we see an opportunity to accelerate change through this initiative.”
Additionally, we’re proud to partner with the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation to make the Collective Impact Awards a reality.
Finally, as part of the Collective Impact Award program, all winners received a comprehensive business support package to help further develop their fundraising, monitoring and evaluation and legal expertise via Beyond Sport’s partners at TrustLaw, Upshot and GivenGain.
The six Award winners represent a diverse cross-section of the sport world. Fittingly, this truly global problem is being tackled by a global coalition, with organizations operating in countries such as Rwanda, the United States and Vietnam.
The 2019 Sport for Climate Action Collective Impact Award Winners
MANTA Sail Training Centre - Vietnam
MANTA equips Vietnamese fishermen with the skills to become independent from fossil-fuels through water-sports. In-turn, water-sports trained fishermen teach large groups of students climate change and water-sports survival-skills. mantasailing.org
Protect Our Winters (POW) - United States
POW works against climate change by turning passionate outdoor people into powerful climate advocates. They lead a community of athletes, creative pioneers and forward-thinking business leaders to affect systemic policy solutions to climate change. protectourwinters.org
World Sailing - Global
World Sailing uses sport as a catalyst for promote low carbon lifestyles by engaging with fans of sailing and participants. As a governing body, they both set green policy for large-scale events and run programs for grassroots club to self assess their environmental performance. sailing.org
AEG 1EARTH - United States
AEG 1EARTH engages, educates and inspires AEG employees, athletes, fans and the general public about environmental sustainability, through sporting programs such as Kings Green, the LA Galaxy's Protect the Pitch and MBA Green. aegworldwide.com
Youth Service Organization (YSO) - Rwanda
YSO works with adolescents and youth gymnasts to raise awareness about climate change, environmental protection, the use of improved cooking stoves and planting trees for reforestation in rural areas of Gisagara and Nyaruguru districts of Rwanda. yuso-rwanda.org
I AM WATER - South Africa
I AM WATER Trust believes in marine conservation through transformational ocean experiences, and the ethos that you protect what you love. They do this by taking learners on two-day ocean snorkeling workshops to spark a connection and love for the sea, inspiring participants to want to take care of their oceans. iamwateroceantravel.com
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