Laureus Chairman Edwin Moses and Yang Berhormat Encik Khairy Jamaluddin, the Malaysian Minister of Youth and Sports, have opened the 2014 Laureus Sport for Good Global Summit in Kuala Lumpur.
Staged with the support of Malaysian charitable foundation Yayasan Rakyat 1Malaysia (YR1M), the Laureus Global Summit brings together representatives from more than 100 sports-based community programmes around the world to exchange knowledge and ideas and share expertise. This is the first time the Laureus Summit has been held in Asia.
The Laureus Sport for Good Foundation has been working with YR1M since the Laureus World Sports Awards were held in Kuala Lumpur last March. The two organisations will co-operate over the next three years to develop projects which will use sport to improve the lives of young people in Malaysia.
Laureus Chairman Edwin Moses said: “Laureus is passionately committed to its work with young people and you just cannot underestimate the value of an event of this kind. The Laureus network extends around the world and we have project leaders and volunteers in Kuala Lumpur sharing their experiences and learning from each other to make sure we do things even better to reach greater numbers of young people.
“I am delighted that once again we are working with Yayasan Rakyat 1Malaysia, as we did so successfully during the Laureus World Sports Awards last March. I would like to thank them for their support for this important event and I am delighted that we have representatives from some of their partners at the Summit. It is very important that the legacy of the Laureus Awards lives on and the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation and YR1M can work together to inspire social change through sport,” he added.
Yang Berhormat Encik Khairy Jamaluddin said: “Malaysian youths have always been the biggest followers of sports in Malaysia. And we have managed to produce some of the biggest stars in badminton, squash, diving, and in many other fields. Now, we are connecting the youth with the notion of Sport for Development, and how sports can be utilised to cultivate a better community.”
A group of great sporting legends from the Laureus World Sports Academy will join the network of project leaders over three days to discuss the use of sport to tackle social issues affecting developed and developing communities. Along with Laureus Chairman Edwin Moses, Academy Members present include French World Cup star Marcel Desailly, All Blacks legend Sean Fitzpatrick and double Olympic decathlon gold medal winner Daley Thompson.
The Summit will be attended by partners of YR1M in Malaysia, who will be able to contribute and learn from Laureus’ global expertise in the use of sport to develop peaceful, healthy, educated and active communities. Expertise gathered from programmes in over 40 countries will be presented in Kuala Lumpur and activities will be conducted through a series of workshops.
Ung Su Ling, Chief Executive Officer of Yayasan Rakyat 1Malaysia, said: “As the Laureus CSR partner for Malaysia, Yayasan Rakyat 1Malaysia will leverage on the experience and know-how of Laureus to benefit Malaysian youths. This Summit enables us to introduce Malaysian corporates, sports associations and NGOs to using sport as a means to bring about positive societal and community change. Following the Summit, we and our local partners will collaborate with Laureus and implement Sport for Good projects across the country for the benefit of the Malaysian youths.”
This Summit is also supported by Laureus Global Partners, Mercedes-Benz & IWC, and locally by Petronas.
This is the fifth Laureus Sport for Good Global Summit. In 2010, Laureus brought together for the first time leaders from its supported projects around the world. A pilot Laureus Sport for Good Summit was held first in South Africa, but rapidly expanded to include the entire Laureus Sport for Good supported global network in London in 2011, Barcelona in 2012 and Bern in Switzerland last year.
The aims and objectives are: to strengthen, unite and inspire the sport for social change community; to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and best practice; to offer services and tools to projects to help them increase the social impact of their programmes; and to give participants opportunities to build new collaborations that deepen the social and educational power of sport for young people worldwide.
The Academy Members and project leaders will discuss the power of Sport for Development and will take part in workshops that focus on developing youth leadership and effective fundraising, engaging with corporate partners, using digital innovation and measuring the impact of the theory of change.
Yayasan Rakyat 1Malaysia (the People’s 1Malaysia Foundation), which was incorporated in January 2013, is a charitable foundation dedicated towards benefitting Malaysians from all walks of life in line with the principles of 1Malaysia. The Foundation’s activities are geared towards engaging and helping Malaysians, particularly the less fortunate and those in need, and to equip them with building blocks to achieve a better quality of life. Towards this end, the Foundation focuses on three areas – Improving quality of life, education and sports. The Foundation is chaired by YAB Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak, the Prime Minister of Malaysia.
