KUU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 9: Henvendelse af 15/10-20 fra GAME vedr. gadeidrættens potentialer, og invitation til besøg ved GAME Streetmekka København

Kulturudvalget 2020-21
KUU Alm.del Bilag 9
Offentligt

GAME ANNUAL REPORT

Name:

Address:

Phone:

Website:

E-mail:

CVR. no.:

Founded:

Registered Office:

GAME

Enghavevej 82D, DK-2450 Copenhagen SV

(+45) 70 20 83 23

www.game.ngo

[email protected]

27 21 33 08

2003

DK-Copenhagen

Board of Directors:

Anders Monrad Rendtorff, Chair

Maria Bøge, Vice Chair

Mads Flarup Christensen

Line Groes

Leif Lønsmann

Lotte Marschall

Thomas Ravn-Pedersen

Gurpaul Singh Rehal

Josephine Svensson

Management:

Simon Prahm, CEO & Co-founder

Morten Bo Andersen, Head of Engagement

Ida Brix, Head of Communications

Mikkel Selmar, Head of GAME Facilities & Events

Marie Traasdahl Staal, Head of Innovation & Programming

Auditors:

Grant Thornton, Stockholmsgade 45, DK-2100 Copenhagen

Front page photo:

Warm up before a GAME Zone practice.

Atika Bashiru is one of the 68 young Playmakers and role models

that lead practices for children in the GAME Zones in Ghana.

The GAME activities in Ghana are a partnership with the local

organization, DUNK (Developing Unity Nurturing Knowledge), and

is supported by Danish donor CISU (Civil Society in Development).

Photo: Nadia Charles

Photos:

Design:

Text:

Print:

Editor in Chief:

Emilie Lenau Klint

Marianne Hjort & Ida Brix

ON!AD

Ida Brix

KUU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 9: Henvendelse af 15/10-20 fra GAME vedr. gadeidrættens potentialer, og invitation til besøg ved GAME Streetmekka København

CONTENT

GAME IN THE WORLD

CHAIR REPORT

LANDMARK YEAR FOR GENDER EQUALITY

Focus on Female Participation

GAME’S WORK WITH THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

THE POWER OF YOUTH

GAME’s Empowerment Model

WINNING FRIENDSHIPS

Focus on Health and Well-being

SUSTAINABILITY

Why on Earth Do We Care?

STREET SPORTS & ENTREPRENEURSHIP

“Now I Have a Passion to Follow”

YOUTH ON THE MOVE

Bringing Dignity to Those Displaced

KEEPING CHILDREN SAFE

Focus on Child Protection

A GOLD MEDAL YEAR FOR GAME HOUSE VIBORG

GAME IN PICTURES

A LITTLE HIP-HOP A DAY KEEPS THE PROBLEMS AWAY

Urban Music in GAME

INCREASED GIRL PARTICIPATION

Ten Recommendations

FINANCIAL STATEMENT & BALANCE

GAME IN NUMBERS

THANK YOU!

KUU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 9: Henvendelse af 15/10-20 fra GAME vedr. gadeidrættens potentialer, og invitation til besøg ved GAME Streetmekka København

DENMARK

•

GHANA

•

GREECE

•

ITALY

•

JORDAN

•

LEBANON

•

LITHUANIA

•

MALTA

•

SOMALILAND

•

TUNISIA

DENMARK

2003

LITHUANIA

2019

ITALY

2019

GREECE

2019

TUNISIA

2020

MALTA

2019

GHANA

2019

DENMARK

273

210,112

125,451

49%

GAME ZONES

GAME HOUSES

PLAYMAKERS

ATTENDANCES

(GAME ZONES & HOUSES)

GHANA

7,807

25%

GAME ZONES

PLAYMAKERS

ATTENDANCES

FEMALES IN

GAME ZONES

GREECE

106

1,552

14%

GAME ZONES

PLAYMAKERS

ATTENDANCES

FEMALES IN

GAME ZONES

JORDAN

167

13,261

32%

GAME ZONES

PLAYMAKERS

ATTENDANCES

FEMALES IN

GAME ZONES

ATTENDANCES

(PLATFORM FOR STREET

SPORTS)

FEMALES IN GAME

ZONES

KUU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 9: Henvendelse af 15/10-20 fra GAME vedr. gadeidrættens potentialer, og invitation til besøg ved GAME Streetmekka København

LEBANON

2007

JORDAN

2018

SOMALILAND

2018

LEBANON

155

16,005

38%

GAME ZONES

PLAYMAKERS

ATTENDANCES

FEMALES IN

GAME ZONES

LITHUANIA

528

11%

GAME ZONES

PLAYMAKERS

ATTENDANCES

FEMALES IN

GAME ZONES

MALTA

698

GAME ZONES

PLAYMAKERS

ATTENDANCES

SOMALILAND

6,450

33%

GAME ZONES

PLAYMAKERS

ATTENDANCES

FEMALES IN

GAME ZONES

KUU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 9: Henvendelse af 15/10-20 fra GAME vedr. gadeidrættens potentialer, og invitation til besøg ved GAME Streetmekka København

DENMARK

•

GHANA

•

GREECE

•

ITALY

•

JORDAN

•

LEBANON

•

LITHUANIA

•

MALTA

•

SOMALILAND

•

TUNISIA

CHAIR’S

REPORT

2019

he Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a univer-

sal call to action to protect the planet, end poverty and

improve the lives of everyone, everywhere. Non-state

actors like GAME have a crucial role to play in achiev-

ing the goals and, with GAME’s new four-year strategy, which was

adopted at the Annual General Assembly in March 2019, we now

have the basis to scale our impact and further contribute to the Glob-

al Goals under the headline ‘Growing Together’. GAME has devel-

oped an evaluation framework aligned with the SDGs, which enables

us to illustrate our impact. However, GAME also has greater ambi-

tions to use the SDGs as drivers of change that unleash innovation.

By bringing together great diversity of thought and the innovative

mindset of young people, we want to create new solutions that chal-

lenge traditional models and approaches.

Some might say that we’re jumping on a crowded bandwagon with

our embrace of the SDGs. Or that the world is already heading in the

right direction, so why bother? While poverty levels are lower than

ever before, the way many of us live and consume has long exceeded

our planetary boundaries. This calls for us all – including organiza-

tions working with sports for development - to also display climate

leadership.

In this Annual Report, you will find our contributions to the Glob-

al Goals on Good Health & Well-Being, Quality Education, Gender

Equality, Reduced Inequalities, Sustainable Cities & Communities,

and Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions.

GAME has taken the first steps to adjust our implementation to align

even further with the SDGs and to develop new initiatives to do even

more. We’ve started by implementing meat-free lunches in GAME

offices, using CO

offset on all air travel, and we are looking even

further into waste reduction at events, and practising responsible pur-

chasing throughout the organization. We have implemented a Water

and Sanitation component in the GAME Ghana program and entre-

preneurship program in GAME Jordan.

THE POWER OF SPORT

This past year has shown us, once again, that sports have the ability

to mobilize and engage young people from all walks of life with recur-

ring engagement. With our Playmakers and inclusive facilities, we do

this every day for an impressive number of children and youth. One

of the results from 2019 that I’m particularly proud of in this regard,

is the introduction of our Playmaker Program in Ghana, Greece,

Lithuania, and Malta. Among other results that need to be celebrated

are the landmark increase in female participation to 34%, the IAKS

Gold Medal awarded to GAME House Viborg and the launch of

the Street Sports Incubator in Jordan. In Denmark, we’ve launched

a program targeting children and youth in psychosocial challenges

and an Urban Music School in all four GAME houses. Despite the

hardship Lebanon is going through while demonstrating for change

as I write this, the GAME Playmaker Program in Lebanon has shown

new ways of supporting youth in both the host and the refugee com-

munities. Together, across borders, we see motivated, capable and

talented youth ready to contribute.

GAME IN NUMBERS

On the financial side we have experienced a 13% increase, making

the total revenue across countries 4.5 million EUR (2018: 4.0 million

EUR). The surplus increased to 27,927 EUR (2018: 13,924 EUR),

equivalent to 1% of revenue. This has allowed us to set a new record

out on the asphalt as the collective attendance across borders reached

a record high 381,952 (2018: 321,142).

On a personal level, I will be handing over the reins at the Annual

General Meeting after five good years as Chair of GAME. It has

been a fantastic journey. In this regard I’d like to thank everyone who

made this possible - our many volunteers, donors, partners, fellow

board members and dedicated staff. Your contributions have been of

great inspiration and this warmth has spread to thousands of children

and youth out on the asphalt far and wide. With you, I’m confident

that I’ll be leaving the organization in good hands for the next many

years to come.



Anders Rendtorff

Chair of GAME

KUU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 9: Henvendelse af 15/10-20 fra GAME vedr. gadeidrættens potentialer, og invitation til besøg ved GAME Streetmekka København

An important part of work-

ing with gender equality is

to have boys acknowledge

the barriers for gender

equality and to take re-

sponsibility of own actions

and beliefs. In GAME

Lebanon different concepts

are constantly tested to

overcome the obstacles that

women and girls are facing

in joining physical activities

and communities.

GAME Finals 2019

Photo: Aras Issa Alzaidy

LANDMARK YEAR

FOR GENDER

EQUALITY

For the first time ever, one out of three par-

ticipants in GAME’s activities across all

countries are female. In Denmark, female

participation in underserved communities

even climbed up to 49%. Additionally, 98%

and 94% of the young Playmakers in Ghana

and Jordan respectively want boys and girls to

have the same opportunities in life. These re-

sults define 2019 as a landmark year for gen-

der equality in GAME and showcases that by

shining a light on a challenge long enough it

will deliver impact.

LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND

Half of the world’s population is female.

This means that half of the world’s hopes,

resources and skills to achieve thriving soci-

eties, communities and individuals, lie in the

hands of women and girls.

Yet, all over the world, girls and women have

fewer rights and opportunities. From chores

binding them to the household, to their pur-

suit of power over their own body, to par-

ticipation in sports, leadership and political

and economic decision-making, women and

girls lack equality. This hinders the individual

woman and girl and the world is missing out

on the power of these people left behind.

FEMALE PARTICIPATION

A recent study by WHO (World Health

Organization) finds that more than 85% of

adolescent girls globally do not meet the cur-

rent recommendations for physical activity.

Since GAME’s earliest days, gender equality

has had a pivotal place in all our strategies,

programs, innovations and operations and

the goal for GAME is to create opportuni-

ties that meet the needs and interests of girls

to attract and sustain their participation in

physical activity.

HUMAN-CENTERED DESIGN

The development of new methods to lower

the threshold to physical activity is pivotal to

the Playmaker Program, supported by Novo

Nordisk Foundation, the Danish Ministry

of Culture and Lauritzen Fonden. One of

the methods of working with female partic-

ipation evolves around our human-centered

design model. It’s a process of observing and

listening – to the girls, their parents, their

community and the existing literature on

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DENMARK

•

GHANA

•

GREECE

•

ITALY

•

JORDAN

•

LEBANON

•

LITHUANIA

•

MALTA

•

SOMALILAND

•

TUNISIA

female participation. GAME uses this infor-

mation to come up with concepts to test on

a smaller scale – together with the girls, of

course. Finally, GAME evaluates the experi-

ments, adjusts, comes up with new concepts

and tests again. This process continues until

a concept is ready to be taken to the streets.

The real test is if the design actually creates

a social change.

Two of the many concepts showing results

are the new multi sports activity ‘GAME

Girls Zone’ and involvement of the parents.

GAME GIRLS ZONE

GAME Girls Zone is a GAME practice for

girls led by female Playmakers. Critically, the

practice provides space for friendships: it is

not focused on one sport but a variety of ac-

tivities, and the girls have a say in choosing

the training content. The Playmakers them-

selves have a huge impact as role models for

the girls.

NEITHER TOUGH NOR FEMININE

GAME strives for a gender balance among

volunteers and Playmakers, as they are role

models for girls, as well as they are for boys.

Across GAME’s programs, 41% of the Play-

makers are female. One of them is Linnea

Augusta Rosenstrand Staehr who is a Play-

maker in a GAME Girls Zone.

Linnea grew up in a family where sports were

a part of everyday life, but when she turned

12, something happened. She became aware

that her body was changing and had a grow-

ing sense of being neither tough nor feminine

enough to be part of the ‘cool’ ones and she

felt lost in the culture around girls being phys-

ically active. She became so insecure that she

Girls have the right to

sports. Boys and girls

should play together

because it will increase

girls’ confidence and

boys and girls will

understand each other

better.

- Joshua Mettle, 14 years old participant, GAME Ghana

ended up dropping sport completely and it

took her more than seven years to return.

“At

the time, it was a huge problem for me because it

became all about not being feminine enough. In fact,

I was neither cool nor feminine enough. So, the sports

community with other girls that was supposed to have

been fun and safe, turned into the opposite,”

Linnea

explains.

As she grew older, she rediscovered that she

missed doing sports. When she returned

to boxing, she also became a Playmaker in

GAME Girls Zone in Mjølnerparken - an

underserved neighborhood in Denmark - to

motivate inactive girls to feel safe and confi-

dent in physical activity.

GAME Girls Zone is meaningful for Linnea,

because it gives her an opportunity to be a

role model for young girls who suffer from the

narrow views on girls being physically active.

She understands their insecurities and can

show them that they are good enough just

as they are. This way, she can be an active

voice against the negative structures and bar-

riers she herself experienced when she was

a young girl.

Female participation

Denmark

Ghana

Greece

Jordan

Lebanon

Lithuania

Malta

Somaliland

Seven years ago, Linnea Augusta Rosenstrand

Staehr (top right) stopped doing sports all togeth-

er because she felt she didn’t fit the conception of

’how to be a girl’. Today, she is back in sports

and has chosen to be a GAME Playmaker to

help younger girls dare to be themselves and

be active in fighting a discriminatory culture

around girls and sports. Here she is, with her

fellow Playmakers in her local GAME Girls

Zone, Areeba Khan Ahmed, Rukhsar Alam and

Michelle Yasmin Linnemann.

Photo: Marianne Hjort

GAME Playmakers

Children in GAME Zones

of children and youth in GAME

think that boys and girls should

have the same opportunities in life

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Focus on basic facilities

In GAME Jordan, investigating low par-

ticipation from girls in the Arjan GAME

Zone in Amman, they discovered that

lack of access to clean toilets resulted

in families not permitting their girls

to join the practices. Now, a solution

in the specific GAME Zone in Arjan and

the focus on clean and accessible toilet

facilities in all GAME Zones is a high

priority to lower the barriers for girls to

join the activities.

Context sensitive GAME practices

In Somaliland, the Playmaker Camps

are mixing young male and female

Playmakers with great success and at

every camp the Playmakers work with

gender equality. But for the practic-

es in the GAME Zones, girls play with

girls only, in order for the parents to let

their girls join the practice. In the Ubah

Centre in Hargeisa, Marwa Mawlid, a

young football player and a dedicated

Playmaker, has success in making a

safe space for girls-only football prac-

tices.

PARENTS ARE KEY TO INCLUSION

Involving parents has proven to have an im-

pact on reaching inactive girls in underserved

communities. In Denmark, involving parent

groups in the communities has helped bridge

GAME activities and the families. Across all

countries, GAME focuses on tailored ways

for parents to be assured that the GAME

Zone and practice are safe and sensitive

enough to their girls’ needs, so that they can

let their girls join.

PARENTS’ DAYS IN LEBANON

Batoul Nemer is a Playmaker in GAME

Zone Tahwita in Lebanon. She has led sever-

al Parents’ Days, with the goal of addressing

the cultural view on sports as ‘not for girls’

and highlighting the benefits of their chil-

dren playing with children from different

backgrounds:

“We have a lot of difficulty in Lebanon in accepting

others. In our culture in Lebanon, some say the girls

are only for the kitchen and it is not good for them to

mix with boys and some places it is not good for girls

to do sport,“

Batoul explains.

“In order to show the parents that their children can

play with children from different backgrounds and in-

teract with society, we invited the parents for Parents’

Days. The goal is to make the parents trust GAME

and us as Playmakers enough to let their girls attend

practices. But also, to show that girls can shoot,

dribble, they can run, and they can be happy,”

says

Batoul.

Despite the cultural barriers for girls in

sports, GAME Lebanon has reached 38%

female attendance for participants in 2019.

An achievement that role models like Batoul

contribute to.

ADVOCATES FOR EQUALITY

One objective is to achieve a high female

participation in physical activities. GAME

also strives to train both boys and girls to

understand and advocate for equal rights for

boys and girls. All Playmakers across GAME

countries are trained in gender equality at

Playmaker Camps and they pass this theme

on to the children at the GAME practices

and to their friends and families.



For GAME’s recommendation for engaging girls in sports, go to page 32.

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DENMARK

•

GHANA

•

GREECE

•

ITALY

•

JORDAN

•

LEBANON

•

LITHUANIA

•

MALTA

•

SOMALILAND

•

TUNISIA

GOOD HEALTH

AND WELL-BEING

GAME engages children and youth in street sports to

foster positive communities. Being physically active

and having friends and strong social networks increases

physical health, well-being, lifespan and prevents loneli-

ness and mental health issues.

QUALITY

EDUCATION

GAME educates all young volunteers, using a life skills mod-

el and teaching aspects of conflict management, gender

equality, cultural diversity and sustainable development.

GAME educated

of all children and youth feel more physical

active since they joined GAME.

young volunteers in 2019.

of all children and youth in GAME have learned

things that they can use in other areas of life,

such as in school, or with family or friends.

of all children and youth have

made new friends in GAME.

The education prepares young people to lead weekly practices in

street sports for local children. Empowerment, life skills, teamwork,

gender equality, conflict management, and civil society is part of the

educational programs.

GAME brings people together. No matter what differ-

ences there are between them, they all disappear on

the asphalt. What’s left for the practice is the

players, new friends, great energy and lots of fun.

- Lynn Hajj, Zone Manager in GAME Zone ‘Aisha Bakkar in Lebanon

GAME Jordan launched the first Street Sports Incubator in the Middle

East to empower the youth and provide them with entrepreneurial

skills. Street Sport Incubator Program develops the ideas of the youth

and helps turn the ideas into business or initiatives via support and

seed funding.

GENDER EQUALITY

GAME supports and empowers female role

models and motivates inclusion of females

in active communities to counter discrimina-

tion against women and girls.

REDUCED

INEQUALITIES

GAME strives to create inclusive and safe com-

munities where children and youth become part

of diverse fellowships across age, ethnicity, skill

level and social background.

of all children and youth in GAME think

that boys and girls should have the

same opportunities in life.

of all children and youth in GAME got to know

people with another background in GAME.

GAME brings people together. No matter what differ-

ences there are between them, they all disappear on

the asphalt. What’s left for the practice, are the play-

ers, new friends, great energy and lots of fun.

- Lynn Hajj, Zone Manager in GAME Zone Aisha

Bakkar in Lebanon

DENMARK

GHANA

GREECE

JORDAN

LEBANON

ALL GAME

FEMALE PARTICIPATION IN GAME ZONES

Women’s sports help break down a lot of barriers for

women in other areas of life.

- Marwa Mawlid Abdi, street soccer Playmaker in Hargeisa,

GAME Somaliland

The numbers are a result of a survey conducted amongst users and

volunteers of all GAME programs in 2019.

358 volunteers and 1,336 children participated (N: 1,694)

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SUSTAINABLE CITIES

AND COMMUNITIES

GAME establishes GAME Zones and GAME Houses

to create safe, inclusive and accessible spaces for

children and youth to participate in street sports and

culture.

Number of GAME Zones across Denmark,

Ghana, Greece, Jordan, Lebanon, Lithuania,

Malta, and Somaliland in 2019.

Number of GAME Houses

in Denmark 2019.

In GAME Denmark

In GAME Ghana

of the children participating in GAME Zones

feel safer in their local community, after

joining GAME.

of the children participating in the

GAME Zones did not have a safe space

to play before the GAME Zones were

established.

PEACE, JUSTICE

AND STRONG

INSTITUTIONS

GAME uses participatory processes when

designing all facilities and programs and includes

volunteers and users in decision-making and

representation.

of the volunteers have increased their

motivation for participating in volunteer

work or shaping their community after

participating in GAME.

Volunteers are trained as advocates for youth in civil society, gov-

ernments and the private sector. GAME’s Playmakers are often on

stage when GAME is invited to talk about youth leadership and youth

involvement at decision-making levels.

In alignment with the UN Global Goals GAME is committed in contributing to the sustainable development agenda.

GAME has made an action plan involving staff, partners, volunteers and users in working broader and more ambitious

with the Global Goals in relation to GAME’s various projects and programs. In addition, GAME has developed an eval-

uation framework aligned with selected goals and highlighted six key areas showing the power of what youth-led

street sports and inclusive spaces can do.

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DENMARK

•

GHANA

•

GREECE

•

ITALY

•

JORDAN

•

LEBANON

•

LITHUANIA

•

MALTA

•

SOMALILAND

•

TUNISIA

THE POWER OF YOUTH

he strongest image capturing 2019 is the power of youth.

Young people all over the world have raised their voices

to a roar that has affected the world with demands for

political change, climate action and a will to reach the

Global Goals. Youths are to be listened to and supported if we want

sustainable change and a better world.

Youth is, therefore, at the core of GAME’s mission. The goal of mak-

ing a lasting social change goes through the empowerment of youth

and in GAME this is obtained among other things, via the GAME

Empowerment Model. Tied to street sports, this tool permeates all

activities in GAME, most obviously in the Playmaker Program and

the training of GAME’s volunteers.

GAME EMPOWERMENT MODEL

The GAME Empowerment Model empowers youth by enhancing

their life skills through street sports. This model is the foundation

of the social change that GAME works for. Life skills are the fun-

damentals behind working with all the GAME volunteers and they

are embedded in all GAME Playmaker Camps and curriculum, in

documentation of the impact and down to every one of the drills in

the e-learning platform GAME Academy.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “Life skills

are the abilities for adaptive and positive behavior that enable indi-

viduals to deal effectively with demands and challenges of everyday

life”. Thus, life skills refer to the skills needed to effectively deal with

the changes, challenges and opportunities of daily life. Life skills are

competencies built over time, and they work on different levels. The

GAME Empowerment Model works with three levels: The Individual

Life Skills Level, The Group Life Skills Level and a third Community

Level.

The skills are personal abilities to deal constructively with oneself, to

deal with others and to actively engage in society.

Life Skills are also integrated in the MEL (Monitoring, Evaluation and

Learning). The GAME user survey from 2019 shows that 93% of all

volunteers across the world have learned things that they can use in

other areas of life, 81% have increased their motivation for participat-

ing in volunteer work or shaping their community after participating in

GAME, and 87% got to know people with another background than

their own. By enhancing the life skills of youth, GAME enables them to

take leadership roles and to take a broader societal responsibility in ad-

EMPOWERMENT MODEL: THE BASE OF A DRILL

The European Union has awarded an Erasmus+ grant to five

partner organizations, who work with ‘sport for all’, margin-

alized youth, social inclusion and health in Denmark, Greece,

Italy, Lithuania, and Malta. One of the products of this part-

nership is developing of the GAME Academy, an online and

publicly accessible education curriculum and exercise toolbox

that enables motivated people around the world to access tools

and resources to start up their own activities out on the street,

no matter where they are. All drills in the GAME Academy are

rated according to which life skills they develop.

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In GAME, when

different ages,

genders and

backgrounds

all get together,

it’s like having

a glimpse of our

future community.

It’s something

wonderful and

really awesome to

have the chance

to be part of this

shaping of our

youth.

- Tala Hasbini,

Playmaker in Aisha Bakkar GAME Zone, Lebanon

TUNISIA IN THE STARTING BLOCKS

Tunisia is a country with challenging poll numbers when it

comes to youth: more than 50% consider emigrating, youth un-

employment approaches 40%, and school drop-out rates paint a

challenging picture. In 2019, GAME began laying the ground-

work for a 2020 GAME launch in Tunisia. Along with DAPP

(the Danish-Arab Partnership Program) and local partners, the

activities in Tunisia will support and train the local youth to

unleash their leadership, to become role models, and to invite

children into sports-active communities.

dressing issues relevant to their community. These life skills help young

people become active citizens, who are able to make their voices heard

and to be co-creators of peaceful, equal and democratic communities.

Ripple effect

The power of putting youth in the frontline when working with em-

powerment and life skills is apparent in the impact on the individual.

But the ripple effects of empowering the young Playmakers are im-

mense: The Playmakers bring their learnings to other spheres of their

lives: school, jobs, friends and family. And the children in GAME are

introduced to the methods at the practices and through their inter-

action with the Playmaker. From a very early age, the children are

equipped with skills to grow into youths and adults who are empow-

ered human beings and citizens. The children also bring this to their

friends, and home to their siblings and parents.

An example of a perfect circle is Playmaker, Souhail Abdeddaim. He

started as a child, playing street basketball in a GAME Zone and loved

it so much that he became a Playmaker himself. Now, he is one of

the most experienced Playmakers involved in innovating the organiza-

tion, and several of his siblings and friends are now Playmakers too.



Have learned things through GAME,

that they can use in other areas of life

Got to know people from another

background through GAME

Are better at solving conflicts after

they started in GAME

Think that boys and girls should have

the same opportunities in life

KUU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 9: Henvendelse af 15/10-20 fra GAME vedr. gadeidrættens potentialer, og invitation til besøg ved GAME Streetmekka København

DENMARK

•

GHANA

•

GREECE

•

ITALY

•

JORDAN

•

LEBANON

•

LITHUANIA

•

MALTA

•

SOMALILAND

•

TUNISIA

ILL

GAME EMPOWERMENT

MODEL

INDIVIDUAL LIFE SKILLS

•

Creative thinking

Critical thinking

Self-awareness (physical and mental)

Coping with stress and emotions

Reflective decision-making

SOCIAL LIFE SKILLS

•

Teamwork

Trust

Leadership

Empathy

Effective communication

Problem solving

IND

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Illustration: Emilie Lenau Klint

COMMUNITY (SDG)

•

Peace/reconciliation

Gender equality

Sustainable communities

Democracy

Creating partnerships

Other local sustainability issues

KUU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 9: Henvendelse af 15/10-20 fra GAME vedr. gadeidrættens potentialer, og invitation til besøg ved GAME Streetmekka København

DENMARK

•

GHANA

•

GREECE

•

ITALY

•

JORDAN

•

LEBANON

•

LITHUANIA

•

MALTA

•

SOMALILAND

•

TUNISIA

WINNING

FRIENDSHIPS

Sports are often connected almost synonymously with words such as competi-

tion, performance and win. But sports can blossom both with and without com-

petition and have other goals, such as community, well-being and life skills. At

GAME, ‘winning’ is not only defined as scoring more points. The overarching

goal is to make friends and grow as a person and a citizen.

The former professional soccer player, Ron-

aldinho, once said:

“I learned all about life with

a ball at my feet.”

And he was onto something. Because sport

has the power to empower and teach valu-

able lessons.

Everyday GAME Playmakers lead practices

in street sports throughout Denmark, Ghana,

Greece, Jordan, Lebanon, Lithuania, Malta,

Somaliland and soon also Tunisia. The goal

with all GAME’s practices is to lower the

threshold for participation so that all children

and youth have the opportunity to practice

sport.

If the approach to sport is supporting making

friends, overcoming conflicts, bridging differ-

ences and learning new things, sport can be

a valuable tool to lower the threshold and

to reach the UN Sustainable Development

Goals i.e. on health and well-being, including

mental health.

SPORT FOR DEVELOPMENT

GAME uses a ‘Sport for Development’ ap-

proach to bring positive change into the lives

of people and communities through street

sports. At the center of the GAME approach

is The GAME Empowerment Model that

teaches life skills and knowledge to promote

sustainable development for the young volun-

teers and their communities.

“Sports are fantastic and terrible at the same time. As

inclusive as sport can be, it can be equally exclusive

if competition, hierarchy and discrimnation are push-

ing participants out. To focus on the inclusiveness of

sports, our activities are structured in such a way that

we use sports as a tool to gain friends, life skills and

become an active part of a community,”

says Simon

Prahm, CEO and co-founder of GAME.

WINNING WITHOUT COMPETING

One of the participants who always wins at

GAME’s activities is 14-year old Alexander

Pihl Scheef.

Alexander takes part in the project, ’Friend-

ships on Asphalt’ supported by VELUX

FONDEN and the Danish Health Authority.

This project aims to lower the threshold for

participation in sports by tailoring parkour

programs to children and youth struggling

with psychosocial challenges.

”We support each other and cheer for each other. If

one of us gets hurt, we help each other. At the park-

our practices you also develop yourself and become

stronger, when you try to overcome some of your own

boundaries,”

Alexander explains.

When working with children and youth with

psychosocial challenges the practice has to

be safe and accessible for the children. An

important tool for this is taking the competi-

tion aspect completely out of the trainings. It

gives more room for diversity and friendships

for this group of children, who have often

experienced being insecure and excluded in

sports.

So, even though GAME’s activities in Africa,

Europe and the Middle East take place with

and without competition, the participants are

always winning. It’s just that friends, commu-

nity and skills can’t be put on the trophy shelf

- they are simply too heavy.



IN GAME:

of all children and youth have learned something in

GAME they can use in other areas of their lives.

of all children have made new friends after joining

GAME.

of all children are better at solving conflicts after

joining GAME.

FRIENDSHIPS IN GAME GHANA

“Through GAME’s practice I have been

able to make so many new friends. Before

I joined GAME’s practices, I was not in the

mood to make friends. I was shy. When I

came for practice, I could not talk to them

like the way I can talk with them now. Now

I’ve come to mingle with them and now I

have the confidence to talk to them.”

- Genevieve Quaye, participant in GAME Ghana.

KUU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 9: Henvendelse af 15/10-20 fra GAME vedr. gadeidrættens potentialer, og invitation til besøg ved GAME Streetmekka København

A street basketball practise in GAME Zone Arjan in Amman.

97% of the children participating in the activities across all the 11 GAME

Zones in GAME Jordan are more physical active after joining GAME.

The GAME Houses in Copenhagen, Esbjerg, Viborg and Aalborg in Denmark are innovative

indoor street sports facilities that house and create communities around street sports and culture.

But the houses are also tools to lower the threshold to physical activities and elevate inclusion.

The Program, ‘Friendships on Asphalt’ is working in all four GAME Houses with children

and youth experiencing psychosocial challenges.

Photo: Heiður Erla Þormar

KUU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 9: Henvendelse af 15/10-20 fra GAME vedr. gadeidrættens potentialer, og invitation til besøg ved GAME Streetmekka København

DENMARK

•

GHANA

•

GREECE

•

ITALY

•

JORDAN

•

LEBANON

•

LITHUANIA

•

MALTA

•

SOMALILAND

•

TUNISIA

SUSTAINABILITY

- WHY ON EARTH

DO WE CARE?

In 2019, governments, companies and

citizens have been preoccupied with

sustainability like never before – in-

cluding GAME.

In 1987, Norway’s former Prime Minister,

Gro Harlem Brundtland warned the world’s

leaders about an imminent global challenge,

when she presented the environmental coun-

terpart to the Universal Declaration of Hu-

man Rights to the UN: the Brundtland Re-

port. The world needed to meet the needs of

the present without compromising the abil-

ity of future generations to meet their own

needs.

‘Sustainability’ was put on the agenda as a

holistic concept that included social, eco-

nomic and environmental aspects.

SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY

The sustainability agenda has been a priority

for GAME since the beginning in 2003 - and

still is.

The concept of ‘social sustainability’ encom-

passes such topics as: social equity, livability,

health equity, community development, so-

cial capital, human rights, cultural compe-

tence and community resilience.

GAME trains youth to become local agents of

social change targeting the topics above. The

training is based on life skills and empower-

ment as methods and the young GAME Play-

makers serve as role models in underserved

communities all over the world: they are

an important part of the social change that

GAME works toward. Empowerment, life

skills, teamwork, gender equality, and civil so-

ciety are elements of the Playmaker training,

which ensure social sustainability.

The training prepares the volunteers to lead

weekly community practices in street sports

for local children, and this empowerment

supports the young volunteers to relate to

social-, health- and rights-based themes in

their own lives. This again effects the chil-

dren that come to the practices, and even

friends and families around the youth and the

children. In the 2019 GAME

Survey, 86% of all the chil-

dren and youth in GAME

expressed that they learned

something that they can

use in other areas of life.

“A rising number of new

volunteers in GAME

are young people who

have participated in

practices in their

local

GAME

Zone when they

were children.

This tells us that

the volunteers succeed

in being role models

and recycle the impact

that this program offers

the communities,”

says

Marie Traasdahl Staal,

who is Head of Innova-

tion and Programming in

GAME.

GAME HOUSE AS

SOCIAL HUB

GAME’s focus on social sustainability is not

limited to outdoor street sports activities. The

GAME Houses play an important role in the

social change GAME works for.

“When we establish a GAME House, we aim to

create a facility that becomes a hub for positive com-

munity development by engaging children, youth and

adults alike around streets sports and culture. We do

this by linking social programs like the Playmaker

concept and working with children with psychosocial

challenges to the GAME Houses but also by intro-

ducing a flexible and accessible alternative and sup-

plement to traditional organized sports,”

explains

Mikkel Selmar, Head of Facilities and Events

in GAME.

In the city of Viborg in Denmark, the

GAME House is deliberately placed in close

proximity to the underserved neighborhood,

Ellekonebakken, to engage and activate the

children and youth from that particular area.

Through strategic partnerships with the local

housing association and municipal partners,

the GAME House in Viborg has proved over-

whelmingly successful in engaging the youth

and creating a strong sense of ownership, be-

longing and community among its users.

The local housing association is even linking

certain aspects of the positive development

identified in the underserved community in

Ellekonebakken directly to the opening of

KUU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 9: Henvendelse af 15/10-20 fra GAME vedr. gadeidrættens potentialer, og invitation til besøg ved GAME Streetmekka København

of street sports and its character-

stics of lowering the thresholds

into activities.

ENVIRONMENTAL

SUSTAINABILITY

While working with the so-

cial dimension of sustain-

ability has been in the

DNA of GAME’s work

since the very first

practice took place in

Noerrebro in Copen-

hagen, looking at en-

vironmental sustain-

ability is less familiar

territory for GAME.

This, however, does

not mean that GAME

does not have ambitions.

If we are to reach the UN

Sustainable

Development

Goals, everybody – including

organizations like GAME – has

to evaluate if they can do even

more to contribute to the entire sus-

tainability agenda.

NO SINGLE-USE PLASTIC BOTTLES

IN GAME JORDAN

The challenges relating to plastic waste have

given rise to a number of great initiatives

around the world: Runners in the London

Marathon were handed seaweed pouches

instead of plastic bottles and China, one

of the world’s largest consumers of plastics,

announced its plan to ban single-use plastics

across the country.

In GAME Jordan - the local partner, JYIF,

approached the problem with single-use plas-

tic bottles.

At the first Playmaker Camps, the Playmak-

ers all used single-use plastic bottles through-

out the camp to stay hydrated during sports,

and had no possibility to re-cycle the bottles.

Now, GAME Jordan has replaced the sin-

gle-use bottles with re-usable drinking bottles

at all Playmaker Camps and in a GAME

Zone.

ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY

Four times, GAME has breathed new life

into old industrial buildings in the making

of GAME Houses. The GAME Houses

have a strong focus on sustainability in terms

of the reuse of old buildings and materials

into new functions. The urban street culture

architecture complements the industrial

history of the buildings with their raw and

distinctive character and keep the construc-

tion cost down compared to traditional in-

door sports facilities. So does the partnership

model working with local private, public and

civil-sector partners to keep the economic

threshold for the members and participant

in the GAME Houses to an important mini-

mum in order to deliver on social sustain-

ability in the facilities.

In GAME House Aalborg, the old doors

from the laboratory were transformed into

walls, benches and tables. The industrial

lightning fixtures, which previously had pro-

vided light for the windmill factory, are now

garbage cans, and in connection with the

replacement for a new and energy-friendly

ventilation system, the building’s old ventila-

tion pipes have been recycled as plant boxes.

CONTAINER FOR STREET SPORTS

In GAME Malta, sustainability comes in

a box. Here, the local partner of the Eras-

mus+ program ‘Youth-led Street Sports for

All’, Move Malta, placed an old shipping

container by The Malta College of Arts,

Sceince & Technology (MCAST) in Paola

and transformed it into a hub for youth-led

street sports and culture.

The container creates a synergy between

GAME’s two flagship approaches: street

sport facilities and youth leadership, plus

Move’s focus on play and creativity. The

GAME Box is a workplace, a storage for

cones and balls, and a meeting place for Play-

makers, other volunteers and participants.

All this makes the container a good candidate

as a cost-effective Street Sports Facility in un-

stable areas with refugees, displaced and host

communities.



Illustration: Emilie Lenau Klint

the nearby GAME House Viborg.

The GAME House in the city of Aalborg in

Denmark has a specific focus on hospitality

– the way that the young staff in the house

supports the sense of feeling welcome and

safe among all the diverse users of the house.

In the GAME House in Esbjerg, the focus

on social sustainability has taken the GAME

House out into the local community, with vis-

its to locals schools to introduce the concept

KUU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 9: Henvendelse af 15/10-20 fra GAME vedr. gadeidrættens potentialer, og invitation til besøg ved GAME Streetmekka København

MEET SOME OF OUR YOUNG PLAYMAKERS & VOLUNTEERS

“My dream is to have a GAME Zone in my city Al Mafraq. Many children around here, Jordanian and Syrians,

would benefit from this opportunity, as we lack the proper activities and facilities here. I would travel all over

the world to accomplish that, not only to the GAME Zone in Irbid.”

- Mohammad Abdullah Naser Obeid, GAME Playmaker of the Year

“I wanted to be part of something bigger, something which allows you to freely share what you know and also learn

from others.”

- Ruby Lartey, GAME Playmaker, Ghana

“It’s amazing seeing how sports and the GAME community can help young girls feel more confident and become brave

enough to try out new things and help each other out. It makes me really proud to be a Playmaker.”

- Christina Elnif Andersen, Volunteer of the Year, GAME House Copenhagen

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“There is something special about the community. You don’t always have to be the best and there is room for diversity!

My diversity made me insecure before, but from being part of GAME it has turned into a force!”

- Maymanat Asgari, Volunteer of the Year in the Playmaker Program, GAME Denmark

“I joined GAME to be an active citizen in my community and to improve my own skills and the skills of others.”

- Roukaya Chaker, Volunteer of the Year, Lebanon

“It makes sense to me to be a volunteer in GAME because I wish that I had had a person like myself in my life when I

was a kid. My goal in life is to do something for others. Making others happy makes me happy – especially when people

are dealing with problems.”

- Søren Thomsen, Volunteer of the Year, ‘Friendships on Asphalt’, GAME Denmark

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DENMARK

•

GHANA

•

GREECE

•

ITALY

•

JORDAN

•

LEBANON

•

LITHUANIA

•

MALTA

•

SOMALILAND

•

TUNISIA

“NOW I HAVE A PASSION TO FOLLOW”

oung people have huge devel-

opment potential. Young people

are courageous, innovative and

restless, they have an urge to be

creative and have high expectations for them-

selves and their communities. To unleash this

power, GAME is not only providing training

and meaningful roles in community pro-

grams but also economic resources. GAME

is doing this in Denmark in partnership with

Nordea-fonden via the Danish Platform

for Street Sports, and in GAME Jordan, in

partnership with the Danish Ministry of

Foreign Affairs’ Danish-Arab Partnership

Programme (DAPP) via the Street Sports In-

cubator.

STREET SPORTS INCUBATOR

Since January 2018, GAME has been part-

nering with the Danish-Arab Partnership

Program and the local Jordan Youth Innova-

tion Forum (JYIF) on the project ‘Youth-led

Street Sports for All’ in Jordan. The mission

is to train, empower and involve youth in

Jordan. The program gives youth the oppor-

tunity to use street sports, leadership and en-

trepreneurship to make positive changes for

themselves and for the children and peers in

their local area. Every week young volunteers

lead practices for local children in 11 GAME

Zones in Jordan.

HIGH YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT

After a successful first year of training young

GAME Playmakers and well-attended com-

munity street basketball and street football

practices, the partnership between GAME

and JYIF has expanded the GAME Jordan

program with a project that aims to alleviate

the high unemployment among young peo-

ple in Jordan.

The Street Sports Incubator will strengthen

entrepreneurship and organizational talent

in a country where youth unemployment has

reached 40% and many young people have

little hope for the future. The project sup-

ports young people’s ideas with seed funding,

counselling and mentoring, in order to trans-

form their ideas into viable business start-ups

or non-profit initiatives.

In 2019, 88 young people were part of the

two rounds of incubation in 2019 for youth

in Jordan, and seven projects have so far been

selected to receive seed funding and mento-

ring.

BELIEVES IN THE FUTURE

Omran Saymeh is a passionate and hard-

working young man who believes in himself

and in his future.

Omran is one of the participants selected

for the first cycle of receiving seed funds and

mentoring in the first incubator round. He is

very proud of his project and the way it has

developed during the Incubation Program,

sharing that it helped him shape a new plan

to achieve his goals and realize his dream:

“During my time in the Street Sports Incubator, I re-

alized that the branding identity is essential for market

success. So, the app will be rebranded with a new

name and design, to make it more user friendly. Right

now, it is in the testing phase, and looking promis-

ing for a success in the upcoming summer. We ex-

pect 2,000 downloads in the first month of release,”

Omran says.

Omran’s project is a mobile app that lets

people connect with friends, form teams, and

find a facility, in order to play their favorite

street sport.

PASSION FOR PARKOUR

The young people in the Street Sports Incu-

bator are both entrepreneurial and innova-

tive. Tareq Ababneh and two of his friends

have started the very first parkour club in Jor-

dan at the age of only 16. Their idea is called

Parkoman and has a mission to teach parkour

to young people in Jordan at very low fees,

lowering the threshold to the sport.

“I never dreamed about being the first to open a park-

our club in Jordan, being only 16 years old. Now I

have a passion to follow and I will keep working on

it,”

Tareq says.

ACCESS TO TECHNOLOGY

For the second cycle of the incubator, the

lack of facilities, particularly the access to

technology, has proven to be a setback for the

participants. Therefore, JYIF is granting the

participants access to their office at certain

times. They are provided with computers and

internet access for research and development

on their projects.

Tareq Ababneh is part of the first circle of incubation in

The Street Sports Incubator project in GAME Jordan. The

participants are supported in creating an idea and delivering

a pitch in front of an expert panel. If the idea is promising

the participants will continue in the program and after six

months the most sustainable and innovative ideas are selected

for seed funds and mentoring. Tariq and his two friends were

among those selected with their idea on how to lower the

threshold to join parkour in Amman.

KUU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 9: Henvendelse af 15/10-20 fra GAME vedr. gadeidrættens potentialer, og invitation til besøg ved GAME Streetmekka København

One of the 153 innovative street sports projects that The Danish Platform for Street Sports

supported in 2019 was the SLIP Festival: a five-day skateboard festival to showcase the power

of skateboarding when it comes to inclusion and social change. This ramp was first built and

then skated by the festival guests. The people behind the SLIP Festival have since been mentored

by the Platform to develop the festival even further.

Photo: Asbjørn Sand

PLATFORM FOR STREET SPORTS

In Jordan, the Street Sports Incubator is ad-

dressing the immense youth unemployment

problem by fostering entrepreneurship. And

everywhere GAME operates, it’s a non-nego-

tiable point of delivery to address and advo-

cate for a local issue.

In Denmark the opportunities for being

physically active are numerous. But a lot of

children and youth do not participate in the

traditional sports associations. For some, the

barriers are social, cultural or economical.

For others, organized, adult-led sports every

Tuesday and Thursday are not attractive.

This leaves far too many outside the tradi-

tional sports. GAME‘s Danish Platform for

Street Sports’ goal is to unleash and support

the entrepreneurial skills among youth on

street sports initiatives. The program sup-

ports youth on a journey from idea-gener-

ation, through applying for microgrants, to

implementing the idea, making partnerships

and reporting on impact and finance.

In 2019, the Danish Platform for Street

Sports turned 153 youth ideas and street

sports projects into reality, by microgrants,

councelling and networks.

ENTREPRENEURIAL SKATERS

One of these projects is the skateboarding

festival, SLIP Festival, with the goal of hav-

ing more people join skateboarding and to

create awareness of the inherent power of

social change in skateboarding.

The idea for the SLIP Festival came from

the skateboarder, Asbjørn Sand, who wanted

to give something back to the skateboarding

community. For him, skateboarding provides

an opportunity to belong to a community

where people can talk across gender, age, eth-

nic and social backgrounds, and he sees the

sport as a means for youth to feel welcome

and to take responsibility. These character-

istics of the sport are not very recognized,

but the SLIP festival has a mission to create

awareness of this.

After receiving a grant for the successful first

festival, The Platform for Street Sports con-

tinued the dialogue and supported the three

passionate entrepreneurs behind the festival

in fundraising five times the initial amount to

secure sustainability of the project.



KUU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 9: Henvendelse af 15/10-20 fra GAME vedr. gadeidrættens potentialer, og invitation til besøg ved GAME Streetmekka København

MEET SOME OF OUR YOUNG PLAYMAKERS & VOLUNTEERS

“As children, we never had the opportunity to be mentored or have safe spaces to play. Being Playmakers, we now have the

opportunity to give back to our community and mentor our young brothers and sisters.”

“I learn some valuable skills here in GAME. The schools get you tools to become educated, but not skills to use in life.”

- Elvis Adjei, Volunteer of the Year, Ghana

- Salem Loutfi, Lebanon

“I LOVE the diversity! It provides an opportunity to learn so much about myself and others. The space that has been

created in the GAME House Aalborg creates the seedbed for truly sustainable communities. This is a place where you feel

enormously respected for who you are and the potential you have – no matter what role you have in the house.”

- Emily Nymark, Volunteer of the Year, GAME House Aalborg

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“It’s nice to be a part of something where you’re always in a good mood. There is an awesome atmosphere in GAME and, if

you like, you always have the opportunity to be a part of GAME’s development.”

- Anders Niclas Aggerholm Vermeulen, Volunteer of the Year, GAME House Viborg

“With GAME I have become more active and I’ve learned how to work with children in a way that makes them happy and

want to come to practice every week.”

- Dalia Kokash, GAME Playmaker, Jordan

“I can feel that I make a difference by seeing how happy the children are when we are doing the dance practices. It

makes me happy.”

- Karol Jazmin, Volunteer of the Year, GAME House Esbjerg

“I always tell my father what I’m doing in GAME, and he always encourages me to what I’m doing. We try as girls, with

our girl power, to change our world.”

- Batoul Nemer, GAME Playmaker, Lebanon

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DENMARK

•

GHANA

•

GREECE

•

ITALY

•

JORDAN

•

LEBANON

•

LITHUANIA

•

MALTA

•

SOMALILAND

•

TUNISIA

BRINGING DIGNITY TO THOSE DISPLACED

n 2018, one in every four refugee

adolescents attended secondary school,

compared to 84% of adolescents glob-

ally, with only 3% of refugees enrolling

in higher education. Data from UNHCR

shows that 3.5 million school-aged refugee

children had no days of school in 2016.

The burden of displacement, migration and

conflict lay the heaviest on youth and chil-

dren. Their years in transit become ‘lost’

years, with gaps in education and life skills

for youth and children who are left with lives

marked by danger and violation.

REFUGEES AND DISPLACED

GAME has identified a clear role to play to

give youth and children a better chance for

education, development, childhood, and play

To bring dignity to those displaced.

GAME is working in Europe, the Middle

East and Africa to train young people liv-

ing in centers, camps and host communities

as street sports instructors and positive role

models. This is empowering youth to be re-

silient, to engage the children that come to

their street sport practices, and to extend the

empowerment to their families and commu-

nity that surrounds them.

The GAME Playmaker Program puts youth

in the forefront and equips them to be lead-

ers and role models in their community. The

method is to build life skills on an individual

and group level and train them in organizing

activities for younger children, and ultimately

develop transferable life skills for their own

lives and the lives of the children. Coaching

street sports is the vehicle to empower young

people to believe in themselves, understand

their worth as an individual, be in control of

their life and decisions, and to help them find

their voice and learn skills that enable them

to take active roles in society.

These concepts are especially relevant for

young people on the move – whether they

are refugees or migrants; whether they are in

a temporary location or learning to call a new

place home.

One of the GAME Playmakers in Lithuania is Anas

Rastmo (2nd to the right). Together with his family, Anas

fled from Syria three years ago. His story is inspiring and

not uncommon for the remarkable youth in GAME. Anas

crossed several countries to reach safety in Europe, yet

when he arrived in Lithuania as his last stop, the whole

family were lost about who to talk to or whom to call in

a new country. In this space on the picture, he claimed his

own piece of asphalt in Vilnius. He invited many youths

to openly play together which started a GAME Zone and

built it up step by step, bounce by bounce.

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Child Protection is a core responsi-

bility when working with children,

like here in the GAME Zone in

Ghana, where Playmaker Keena

Swayze is ensuring the children a

safe place to play.

70% of the children in GAME

Ghana did not have a safe place

to play before our local partner,

DUNK and GAME established a

GAME Zone.

Photo: Nadia Charles

Since 2003, GAME has been supporting

youth and regularly tailoring our educa-

tion programs to meet the unique needs of

the different contexts. This is the case when

working with youth in the neighborhoods in

Denmark or Lithuania, in which a majority

of the population has a migrant and refu-

gee background. Or when working in the

protracted Shatila refugee camp in Lebanon

where 200-300 children from Palestinian

backgrounds come to practice. Or a refugee

camp in Jordan inhabited predominately by

Syrian refugees fleeing from a war that has

ripped families and communities apart.

GAME meets each community’s needs by

co-designing with local governments, civil so-

ciety, key stakeholders, and local children and

youth. No matter the setting, GAME always

builds and develops programs and activities

based on a participatory design method that

adjusts and innovates the core concept to

match the specific needs.

KEEPING CHILDREN SAFE

“Child Protection is ensuring that children

grow up to the best of their potential, in a

safe and happy environment.” This principle

is the foundation for our technical partner

UNICEF on Child Protection as for GAME.

It carries the daily work at GAME, while

also institutionalizing the more pronounced

tenets and convictions of the responsibilities

of the Protection of the Child. Working in

high risk areas only raises the bar for the pro-

tection and procedures on keeping everyone

safe. Therefore, GAME has increased and

intensified partnerships around Child Pro-

tection and has, from 2019 doubled-down

on protecting the children and youth we sup-

port.

GAME is strengthening the focus on child

protection in partnership with The Danish

Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Civil Society and

Development Fund (CISU) and several tech-

nical partners. GAME is building up a three

years programming with a Child Protection

Road Map, focusing on safeguarding, service

mapping, and a referral pathway in partner-

ship with UNICEF. In cooperation with UN-

HCR, GAME is assessing harmful practices,

and focusing heavily on child participation,

involving families and communities.

Also, a comprehensive road map design will

be completed in Tunisia and in the EU in

2020.



YOUTH IN THE EU

Across Europe, young people are search-

ing for ways to live healthier, to have

greater economic opportunity, and to

find real and meaningful ways to both

belong to the society and contribute to

it. At the same time, the world is passing

through an unprecedented refugee crisis

which offers challenges to the social co-

hesion within and among many Europe-

an countries.

‘Youth-Led Street Sport for All’ is a

collaborative partnership funded by the

Erasmus+ Sport program in Denmark,

Greece, Italy, Lithuania and Malta.

The local partners are: ARSIS, CESIE,

GAME, Lithuania Integracijos Centras

and MOVE Malta.

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DENMARK

•

GHANA

•

GREECE

•

ITALY

•

JORDAN

•

LEBANON

•

LITHUANIA

•

MALTA

•

SOMALILAND

•

TUNISIA

A GOLD MEDAL YEAR FOR

GAME HOUSE VIBORG

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In 2019, the world’s eyes turned to GAME House Viborg. The International Organization for Sports and Leisure Facilities

(IAKS), together with the International Olympic Committee, awarded a gold medal to the 3,710 m2 paved street sport and culture

house in Viborg and ArchDaily named it ‘Building of the Year’. GAME House Viborg was also shortlisted for the ‘Beyond Sport

Global Awards’ in the category ‘SDG #11: Sustainable cities and communities’. Furthermore GAME House Viborg was short-

listed for the prestigious European ‘Mies Van der Rohe Award’, the ‘Architizer A+ Award’ in the category ‘Sport and Recreation’

and last but not least the ‘Renover Prisen’, which is one of the most important Danish awards for refurbishment in architecture.

Photo: Heiður Erla Þormar

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GAME IN PICTURES

SHOE LIBRARY IN GHANA

7,807 children and youth attended GAME

Zone practices in Ghana in 2019. But many

of them didn’t wear shoes at practice - they

showed up in flip flops or bare feet. That’s

why Mo Tahir, who runs the local partner,

DUNK, in Ghana, invented a ‘shoe library’.

Here, the children can borrow a pair of shoes,

which they hand over again after practice.

DABKEH AT GAME FINALS

Participants celebrating their win in one of

the matches during the GAME Finals 2019

in Jordan. The traditional dance, Dabkeh, is

a mean of expressing happiness and delight

during weddings and festivals. A group of

young people come together in a line, move

their feet and jump in synchronization, while

singing along delightful songs.

INTERNATIONAL

WOMEN’S DAY

Once again, GAME

celebrated Interna-

tional Women’s Day.

Here, GAME House

Copenhagen put

female role models

to the forefront of

the activities at the

monthly event, ‘Fri-

day Jam’, dedicated

to celebrating the

girls. Together with

the boys, of course.

PARENTS’ INVOLVEMENT

With the youth-led activities as a jumping-off

point, GAME aims to strengthen local

communities and the dialogue and social

cohesion among community members. The

involvement of parents is key and GAME

is moving forward in developing different

ways to reach out to and involve the parents.

Here, parents are taking part in a fun prac-

tice in GAME Lebanon.

AMONG THE BEST

In 2019, GAME took another step up the

NGO Advisor List, which selects the world’s

best NGO’s. GAME moved from number

141 in 2019 to number 130 in 2020. The

list is based on criteria such as innovation,

sustainability and results.

REACHING OUT TO

LOCAL COMMUNITIES

GAME’s focus on social sustainability has

taken GAME House Esbjerg out in the local

community to introduce the concept of street

sports and low threshold into active commu-

nities. Here local children are trying out a

new, cool ramp which the team of GAME

House Esbjerg built as part of a cooperative

project for the area around Praestegaards-

skolen (local school), so even more public

places can be used for activities and positive

communities.

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MAKING STREET SPORTS GROW

The Danish Platform for Street Sports

supports street sports in Denmark through

financial support and counseling. In Beder,

Denmark, a local street sport entrepreneur

received a grant and mentoring on a project

aimed to activate a local spot between two

apartment buildings. Today, the children of

the area skate, play basketball and play at the

new spot.

70% OF THE POPULATION UNDER 30

In Somaliland, the Playmaker Program has

started up GAME Zones in Hargeisa and Ber-

bera with 45 Playmakers trained as coaches in

street basketball and football.

GAME’s presence in Somaliland is necessitated

due to an explicit lack of opportunities, especial-

ly for children, adolescents and youth under 30

years of age, who make up an astonishing 70%

of the population.

DEVELOPING GAME

Every year GAME’s board and staff spends a

week focusing on developing the organization.

2019 was dedicated to the UN Sustainable

Development Goals, where concrete ideas and

projects on how to incorporate the SDG Goals

into GAME’s daily work, were initiated. As a

first step, GAME has signed the UN Sports for

Climate Action Declaration.

MONTHLY B-BALL TOURNAMENT

Basketball is not just a sport in Lithuania, it

is a lifestyle. Maybe that is why the monthly

basketball tournament in ‘LOFTAS’ in Vilnius

has been received so well in one of the EU

countries in the Erasmus + partnership YSSA.

Around 100-150 young people show up every

time for the event, where people come and play,

support their friends and chill out. Together

with the local partner, Lithuania Integracijos

Centras, GAME runs weekly street sports activi-

ties in six zones in Kaunas and Vilnius.

GAME GIRLS ZONE UBAH

In 2019, GAME worked hard to increase

the number of girls at activities in all GAME

countries. Together with partners our Play-

makers have arranged practices for girls only.

GAME Zone Ubah is one of the safe venues,

where girls and women meet up to play street

football and have fun together.

TUNISIA IN

THE STARTING BLOCKS

In 2019, GAME laid the groundwork for a

2020 start of youth-led street sport activi-

ties in Tunisia. GAME has teamed up with

like-minded local organisations, amongst

others the youth-led organization IIDebate

who sees a great potential for empowering

and engaging new groups of youth and chil-

dren through GAME’s methods. Here, future

GAME volunteers from four potential GAME

Zones are taking the first steps toward meet-

ing GAME’s objective of bringing sports, skills

and hope to children and youth in Tunisia.

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DENMARK

•

GHANA

•

GREECE

•

ITALY

•

JORDAN

•

LEBANON

•

LITHUANIA

•

MALTA

•

SOMALILAND

•

TUNISIA

PLAYMAKER CAMP LEBANON

Empowerment, life skills, teamwork, gender

equality and street sports are part of the

program at all GAME’s Playmaker Camps.

Here, Lebanese Playmakers are filling out

a large scale ‘practice planner’ which helps

them organize their weekly street sports

activities in the 13 GAME Zones they run

in Lebanon.

NATIONAL SANITATION DAY

As part of GAME Ghana’s efforts to im-

prove sanitation in communities, GAME’s

Playmakers have joined the National Sanita-

tion Day which takes place the first Saturday

of every month. This involves cleaning of

open gutters, sweeping the streets, fixing a

neighborhood footbridge and much more.

The initiative is led by the Ministry of Local

Government and Rural Development.

STREET GAME FESTIVAL

All children and youth who love

street sports are invited to local

Street GAME Festivals in their

local GAME Zone in Lebanon

and Denmark. Street GAME is

an extra special day in the Zone

with activities in street basketball

and street football, mixed with

dance performances, street art,

food and music. Here, a high five

before a panna match at the Street

GAME in Sin el Fil GAME Zone

in Lebanon.

ROSKILDE FESTIVAL

GAME was, once again, at Northern Eu-

rope’s biggest festival to activate the festival

guests in a cool way. GAME’s Playmakers

are always a big part of GAME’s partic-

ipation at Roskilde Festival. Here, Ishara

Kalamba and Khalil Abdeddaim use their

experience from running weekly practices

to invite festival guests into a diverse sports

community with room for everyone.

SHORTLISTED FOR SDG AWARD

In 2019, Street Sports Incubator in GAME

Jordan and GAME House Viborg were

shortlisted for the ‘Beyond Sport Global

Awards’ in two categories: SDG #8: Sport for

Decent Work and Economic Growth Award.

SDG #11: Sport for Sustainable cities and

communities.

BOOKING AND CONFERENCES

The GAME Houses in Copenhagen,

Esbjerg, Viborg and Aalborg are perfect

for meetings, conferences, events and

workshops. The uniquely renovated

industrial buildings provide a raw,

asphalted framework for events. Here

Google is using GAME House Aalborg

as a conference venue.

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VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR

Mohammad Abdullah Naser Obeid is awarded

‘Volunteer of the Year 2019’ in all of GAME

for his outstanding commitment and work with

children and youth in GAME Zone Irbid in

GAME Jordan. Every Friday, he travels one

hour to join the weekly practices.

“My dream is to have a GAME Zone in my city Al

Mafraq. Many children around here, Jordanian and

Syrians, would benefit from this opportunity, as we lack

the proper activities and facilities here. I would travel

all over the world to accomplish that, not only to the

GAME Zone in Irbid.” says Mohammad.

FIRST CYCLE OF

STREET SPORTS INCUBATOR

The Street Sports Incubator is the first of its

kind in the Middle East. It promotes entrepre-

neurial skills among youth in the field of street

sports. Third place in the ‘Initiative’s Catego-

ry’ came up with an idea to integrate sports

in disability centers. Amani, Rana and Ikhlas

Al-shabattat received their award from the

Minister of Youth, H.E. Mohammad Abu-

rumman, at the award ceremony and head of

GAME’s local partner JYIF, Ali Haddad.

GREAT HOSTING

LOWERS THRESHOLD

With a total of 5,290 in 2019, the GAME

House in Aalborg has the highest number of

members. The 25-year-old Junior Coordinator,

Jesper Seemann Serritzlew, always welcomes

the members with a ‘Hi, nice to see you again’

from the reception, or with a basketball on the

asphalt:

“I believe that the high membership numbers

are due to our commitment to our members. We always

make sure that one of us staff are on the asphalt to

interact in opening hours. Great hosting is one of our

most important tasks to make our members feel included

and part of a positive community.”

CONTAINER FOR SPORTS

The first GAME Box was launched in

Malta in the beginning of 2019. Here, the

local partner, MOVE Malta, placed an old

shipping container at a college in Paola

and transformed it into a hub for youth led

street sports and culture for the Erasmus+

program that is a partnership between

organizations in Denmark, Greece, Italy,

Lithuania and Malta.

SUNDAY MEET-UP IN GREECE

Sundays are good days in Thessaloniki in

Greece for children and youth that like foot-

ball. ARSIS, who is the local partner in the

Erasmus+ Program ‘Youth-led Street Sports

for All’, and their partner, Macedonia Football

Clubs Association, arrange ‘Sunday matches’

in the GAME Zones. Here, children meet up

and play football with others from around

Thessaloniki. More than 40 children join every

Sunday! On weekdays in Thessaloniki, ARSIS

runs street sports trainings for local children,

migrants and refugees in street basketball,

street soccer, parkour and dance.

NATIONAL DAY

OF STREET SPORTS

In Denmark, the National Day of Street

Sports had its five year anniversary in 2019.

Throughout the whole country 46 different

street sport actors celebrated street sports

in their local areas where children had the

opportunity to try skateboarding, panna,

street basketball and a lot of other street

sports. The whole event was organized by

46 local street sport actors and supported by

GAME’s Danish Platform for Street Sports.

In total 22,936 people participated in the

National Day of Street Sports.

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DENMARK

•

GHANA

•

GREECE

•

ITALY

•

JORDAN

•

LEBANON

•

LITHUANIA

•

MALTA

•

SOMALILAND

•

TUNISIA

A LITTLE HIP-HOP

A DAY KEEPS THE

PROBLEMS AWAY

Music is an important

part of all of GAME’s

activities. DJ’s are part

of the program at every

event in GAME and the

volunteers bring music

to all local practices.

The GAME Urban

Music School brings beat

production and DJ skills

to participants in all the

GAME Houses.

Photo: Marianne Hjort

Hip-hop can be playful and unpretentious: a microphone or a beat

is a powerful platform for expressing yourself or for dialogue be-

tween people. A dream came true in 2019, when GAME Urban Music

School came to life.

Squeaking sneakers, bouncing balls and

heavy hip-hop are the soundtrack to GAME’s

activities all over the world. Since 2003, street

sports have been GAME’s tool for social

change, but music, and especially hip-hop,

has always been a part of GAME’s activities.

Out on the asphalt music is used as a way

to let passers-by know that something is go-

ing down. And for the people already there,

it sets the tone by creating an ambience

and backdrop for the street sports activities.

Sometimes it even functions as the main at-

traction when live acts are part of a GAME

event.

Focus on diverse and gender balanced play-

lists, dj’s and acts is an important part of mu-

sic as a tool to work for gender equality in

urban music.

In 2019 music got to play an even greater role

in getting more children and youth to be a

part of GAME with the launch of GAME

Urban Music School in Denmark, supported

by the Danish Foundation Tuborgfondet.

LIFE SKILLS THROUGH MUSIC

GAME Urban Music School consists of ses-

sions where young people get the opportunity

to develop their skills in rap, dj’ing and beat

production with other young people in their

local communities.

The project aims to build and strengthen

communities for young people around music

and to develop the participant’s life skills.

“Street culture and music have the potential to reach

those youth who find it difficult to settle into more

traditional after-school activities. Often, this group is

seeking a more flexible framework where the diversity

and community are prioritized - and music as expres-

sion and identity carrier stands strong,”

explains

Mikkel Selmar, head of GAME Facilities and

Events.

“A positive and inclusive music community provides

the framework for individual change through success

experiences, strengthened personal and social skills,

which can also have an impact on, for example, school

performance and other significant life dimensions,”

Mikkel says.

The project targets young people between the

ages of 15 and 25 and has room for everyone

across gender, background and knowledge of

music. GAME Urban Music School is set-up

in the four GAME Houses in Denmark and

will help strengthen the urban music commu-

nities in the four cities. Several participants

in GAME Urban Music School have already

performed at local music events.

A survey conducted among the participants

of the GAME Urban Music School in Aal-

borg and Copenhagen has already shown

promising impact in the projects inaugu-

ral year as four out of five have improved

their self-esteem, 75% have become better

at working together with others and almost

everybody have made new friends while par-

ticipating in GAME Urban Music School.



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10 RECOMMENDATIONS

FOR ENGAGING MORE GIRLS IN POSITIVES

SPORTS COMMUNITIES

Make sure the girls feel

invited

to the activities

Adapt activities

to local context and needs

Support diversity by understanding

culture specific barriers

Use

comfortable, safe and nearby

locations

Involve

female role models

as coaches

Involve the

girls as co-creators

of the activities

Create opportunities for the girls to cultivate their

friendships

Remove the feeling of

performance pressure

Make the girls experience

progression

Create trust in the activities amongst

parents

The existence of gender inequality in sports is well documented. According to WHO 85% of adolescent girls globally do not meet the current

recommendations of physical activity. Also, girls with minority background have a significantly lower participation rate in sports and physical

activity than their peers.

This imbalance calls for rethinking how we develop, design and organize activities in order to make sure that all girls can find their way to

positive communities.

GAME has used an explorative approach and gathered knowledge about girls’ leisure time, their motivational factors and needs, as well as

what barriers that may arise when it comes to sports participation. On that background we have developed 10 recommendations for engaging

girls who is currently not active. We have taken the outset in underserved communities around Denmark where a majority of the girls have

minority background.

For more on the recommendations, go to www.game.ngo

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DENMARK

•

GHANA

•

GREECE

•

ITALY

•

JORDAN

•

LEBANON

•

LITHUANIA

•

MALTA

•

SOMALILAND

•

TUNISIA

FINANCIAL STATEMENT

2017

INCOME

Ministries

Municipalities

Other local funding

Membership fees and payments

2018

EUR

459,092

948,886

12,735

178,165

10,397

168,354

61,059

2,135,466

75,167

4,049,321

2019

EUR

630,664

1,029,469

181,705

58,220

220,078

50,581

2,277,681

99,652

4,548,051

EUR

703,223

766,602

24,566

74,206

23,622

236,203

71,049

2,057,005

102,679

4,059,155

Event income

Rental income