The Client
Established with the support of Nelson Mandela, Laureus Sport For Good was created with the mission to employ sport as a tool to help young people overcome the violence, discrimination and disadvantages they may be faced with. The organisation believes that through the power of sport, young people are able to develop skills, create meaningful connections within their local communities, and improve both their health and wellbeing.
The Brief
Whilst armed with a powerful purpose, the team needed support to make connections with the audience of young people they had set out to help. Essentially, Laureus Sport For Good embodied the why?, but needed a helping hand when it came to the how? of putting young voices at the heart of the organisation.
Recognising the fundamental need for increased youth engagement for Laureus Sport for Good, we began to think about creative ways to put the voices of young people front and centre of its approach.
The Solution – Youth voices x content creation
Our approach to this project saw a dual strategy put in place, working closely with the teams that provide the sports services (phase one), and facilitating sessions with the young people benefiting from these services (phase two).
Phase one:
We worked with Model City London, which is a partnership between Laureus Sport For Good and the Greater London Authority, focusing on three coalitions across Hounslow, Barking and Haringey. These coalitions exist to identify local challenges, and then ensure access is made available for young people to reach youth-focused sports programmes that help to tackle these issues.
We equipped Laureus Sport For Good with the tools needed to train and support these coalitions, in turn enabling them to better engage with young people and local authorities. After this, the coalitions were in a far better position to promote active youth participation. And, had the means to incorporate young people’s voices in shaping sports services and facilities, based on a clearer understanding of what these young people actually want.
Phase two:
We developed a young content creators programme which saw 23 diverse young people, aged 12 to 18, develop their content creation skills as a means to having their voices effectively heard. These young people were either accessing services from across the three coalition areas, or were mentors within the coalitions
The first stage of the programme saw our young content creators take part in a two day series of workshops that helped them to explore storytelling techniques, content creation skills, and editing and software tools. The aim was to provide them with the tools to express first hand how sport has created an impact on their lives and communities. Additionally, they reflected on the challenges they’ve faced with accessing sports and the impact there would be if these facilities were not available locally.
Outcomes
Our collaboration with Laureus Sport For Good helped the organisation to bring youth voices to the forefront, telling first hand the challenges they are faced with and making it clear that sport is the solution to tackle them.
Our training helped the coalitions from Model City London make a bigger impact, supported by relevant youth insights. This ensured that the services provided locally really mapped against the most demanding issues the communities were being faced with.
Throughout the two month duration of our young content creators programme, the young people involved were able to write, produce, direct, film and edit a series of videos and interviews that were combined into a twelve minute documentary (see below). As well as this, the young attendees of our workshops each secured an AQA accreditation, developing an array of skills which will be useful in the jobs market.
Not only were their media and production skills significantly enhanced, many of the young content creators expressed how the project impacted them emotionally. When asked how the sessions made the young content creators feel, common descriptors included: Confident, happy, supported and informed. The final video really sums up the impact sport has, which goes beyond physical wellbeing, and creates a huge impact on improving emotional safety and wellbeing too.
Finally, not only did this project have an immense impact on the youth participants involved, it created a wider effect, equipping both the organisation itself and the coalitions with the tools to effectively incorporate youth voices into their missions.
Short Film – The Power of Sport
Want to know how youth voices can be placed at the heart of your organisation? Reach out to our team today!
