Richemont is a founding patron of the Laureus organisation. Laureus comprises the Laureus World Sports Awards, the Laureus World Sports Academy and the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation. Collectively, these three elements celebrate sporting excellence and harness the power of sport to promote social change.
Laureus celebrates the power of sport to bring people together as a force for good. The challenge of delivering its objective is substantial and there is still much work to be done. However, the steady, consolidated growth of the movement has been greatly assisted by the support of the Laureus Founding Patrons, Richemont and DaimlerChrysler, their appointed brands IWC and Mercedes Benz, the Laureus Academy and an increasing number of international advocates. Laureus’ ultimate vision is that ‘Sport has the power to change the world’.
The Foundation’s year was characterised by continued growth both in the number and range of projects supported by the movement.
The Laureus Sport for Good Foundation uses the power of sport to address social issues by funding and promoting a worldwide programme of community development projects, each using sport as the tool for social change.
The number of children involved in programmes supported by the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation since its start in 1999 rose to over 140 000 and the total number of projects receiving support rose from 37 to 39.
During the year, the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation began its support of the Seenigama Sports Programme near Galle, Sri Lanka, in response to the Tsunami of December 2004. The project seeks to assist in reconstructing local communities over the coming years through the organisation of coordinated sporting activities including volleyball, cricket, badminton, swimming, football, crosscountry running and table tennis in the villages worst affected by the disaster.
The Federazione Wheelchair Hockey project, supported by the Fondazione Laureus Italia, assists 160 children and young adults each year to play wheelchair hockey and organise activities and training workshops for managers, coaches and umpires. It received funding from Laureus in 2005 and is the first project supported by the Laureus Foundation in Italy.
The range of social issues tackled by the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation worldwide included AIDS awareness, drug and alcohol abuse, gangsterism, physical abuse, mental health problems, depression, discrimination, atrisk youth, the plight of child soldiers in war zones, landmine risk, armed violence, peace and reconciliation, environmental issues and disaster clean-up.
The Laureus Foundation continued its media activities during the period, producing a newsletter and footage of Foundation activities which aired during the Laureus World Sports Awards ceremony. Laureus Academy members visited six projects during the year to raise international awareness of the social issues addressed by the movement and to inspire its children. Academy members visited projects in Bosnia, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Australia and Hong Kong.
During the year, a full-time Global Director was appointed for the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation which extended its involvement with its Founding Patrons and Partners.
In 2005, IWC raised over € 400 000 for the movement, to support global projects and national foundations by creating a Portuguese Chrono-Automatic Edition Laureus Sport for Good Foundation watch, engraved on the back with a drawing which won the international Laureus Foundation and IWC drawing competition. The drawing was produced by one of the children at the Mathare Youth Sports Association project in Kenya (a previous nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize), which has been supported by the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation since 2000.
Laureus is playing a part in harnessing sport’s power to deliver positive social change. The Laureus Sport for Good Foundation has achieved a great deal in its seven-year history and it is continuing to grow strategically and professionally, in the scope and effect of its projects and the managed growth of its national foundations, based on a sound business model and the support of its corporate patrons, partners and supporters. However, the movement is still small and in its early years and there is much more that sport can do and that Laureus can achieve.
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