streetfootballworld and Sony have launched two programmes together in the last two weeks: the Sony-streetfootballworld European Graduate Programme (EGP) and Leadership Development Programme (LDP) in London, England and Lyon, France, respectively.

Impact International, which designs employee involvement programmes for a range of corporate partners, moderated both launch events.

European Graduate Programme
Financial sustainability was the focal point for 15 of the most talented young Sony Europe employees, who teamed up with three streetfootballworld network members—Moving the Goalposts, Starfinder Foundation and Dads Against Drugs—to help them develop and implement their concrete ideas for income generation.

The two-day event in London gave both sides the opportunity to get to know each other, define which group of graduates will work with which organisation and define the first steps of a cooperation that will run until mid-June.

Leadership Development Programme
The second programme, designed within a very similar framework to the EGP, engages 15 of Sony Europe’s best senior managers and three more streetfootballworld network members: The Kids League, WhizzKids United, and Grupo Desportivo de Manica.

The main objective of the programme is for the managers to increase their leadership skills by working with organisations that operate outside a traditional corporate environment. For the next six months, each team of five managers will be working remotely with a streetfootballworld network member to building the organisation’s capacity in areas such as communication, fundraising, marketing and overall management.

The launch event allowed for intense interaction between the three streetfootballworld network members and the Sony managers, out of which emerged admiration for the work of the organisations, interesting ideas and corresponding working plans as well as the commitment for a fruitful cooperation in the months to come.

Indeed, after learning more about the work of the three streetfootballworld network members and their dedication in achieving so much with limited resources, the Sony managers were already looking into booking their own flights to get a better feeling for the organisations—as a holiday.

Written by Panos Manologlou