Ziba Cranmer: Nike Csr

Sport and civil society may not be partners that we are used to seeing work together, but a conversation with one of Nike’s senior “social innovation” managers proves that breaking down barriers is what innovation is all about. And perhaps what civil society needs to keep it on the edge.

Being a senior manager of social innovation for one of the world’s most recognised sports brands means more than spending the allocated csr budget on “sizzle”.  According to Ziba Cranmer, a csr expert and senior social innovation manager at Nike in Amsterdam, it means being focused on “bringing about real change in the world”. In the case of a Nike sponsored competition called Change the Game for Women in Sport, this real change means empowering women through sport. The competition, that is the result of a three way partnership between Nike, Ashoka Changemakers and non profit organisation Women Win (a partnership that Cranmer is in charge of), seeks to hunt out the world’s most innovative social projects that use sport as a mechanism for social transformation – the three winners will each be awarded a cash prize of 5 thousand dollars. But it also aims to provide an online platform through which a growing community of changemakers can showcase their efforts to empower women through sport.

Does a community of organisations who use sport for change actually exist?

The “sport for change” sector is definitely a growing movement, but one that has not had a central convening point or even a clear identity; most of the actors in this space characterize themselves as either “sport” organizations or “social” organizations rather than at the cross-section of trying to do both.

We started working with Ashoka several years ago in the EMEA region. Ashoka supports 2000 social entrepreneurs in 60 countries around the world and we were interested in whether any of these amazing individuals were using sport as a strategy for achieving social objectives. To the surprise of both Ashoka and Nike, this search revealed that many Ashoka fellows were using sport as part of their change strategy. We then learned of the work of Changemakers, an initiative of Ashoka, which uses an online platform and the “hook” of a competition to attract a broader network of participation around emerging social trends.

Can sport actually be a mechanism for social change?

The anecdotal evidence is very strong that sport can be an incredibly powerful, and under-utilized, tool to achieve certain social objectives. The body of concrete evidence is only now emerging. I would say that sport is particularly effective in tackling a select group of issues. Women’s empowerment through sport is fairly well documented in countries with advanced levels of participation – for example, most women in senior management positions in the U.S. played organized sport in their youth. Sport is also quite effective in addressing social issues pertaining to the risks facing young men, a population that has been very difficult for the development community to reach.

Are there any existing examples of best practice?

 There are four key approaches that I think of with regard to sport: sport as a distraction from negative influences or pressures (midnight madness basketball is a good example of this working well); sport as a tool/ or a hook to reach and educate (this is the approach of the “kicking Aids” network and similar programs addressing HIV through football/ sport; sport as means for building character (this is the familiar list of benefits that we know can be derived from sport: self esteem, teamwork, discipline, etc.) and finally sport as a tool for social integration.

Many programs leverage sport in multiple ways. The homeless world cup is a well-known example with a solid base of evidence of how sport has provided a mechanism and an incentive to help homeless people rebuild their lives and address issues of substance abuse and reintegration to society. The programs supported by WomenWin offer a number of additional examples, and for even more, I encourage everyone to visit the changemakers website! www.changemakers.com/womeninsport

Why did Nike choose to tackle the empowerment of women in particular?

The reason we chose gender was because there are certain areas where sport offers a compelling strategy to advance a particular social cause. The world of sport is particular male dominated so there are major changes that are needed to bring about equality in this space. This competition is about gaining a deeper understanding of the barriers across various cultures and sharing successful approaches to overcoming those barriers. At the same time, the impact that playing sport has on the lives of women is undeniable. Whether it is empowering women with the self confidence to assert themselves in sexual relationships – which can be lifesaving in countries where HIV is rampant or it’s the impact it has had on building women leaders.

In the U.S. the percentage of women in senior executive roles who played organized sport in their youth suggests that there is a strong correlation between this experience and their ultimate success. I could go on all day about the benefits.  From a Nike perspective, beyond the alignment of this issue with our corporate responsibility goal of catalyzing a movement around sport for change, we hope to lay the groundwork for increased focus by our own company in women’s sports, but this requires catalyzing the growth of the sector.

How does Game Changers fit in with more traditional feminist approaches to exclusion?

I think that gamechangers is an attempt to extend the rights-based approach of the mainstream women’s movement to the sport sector. Its really interesting to watch the testimonials of some of the women portrayed in the videos on the platform – they not only call for equality, but they also call for an audience. My personal experience in college was that the women active in the feminist movement never turned up to support women’s sports. I found that a particular irony.

Ashoka, Nike and WomenWin – a three way partnership between corporate and non profit enterprises. How does it work?

Ashoka’s Changemakers is an ideal partner for Nike. Like Nike, it is a highly entrepreneurial organization with a strong focus on innovation and pushing systems change. The fact that it has global scope and a strong brand is also important and mirrors Nike. It is difficult to find global organizations that have the level of innovation that can be found within Ashoka. The main points of creative tension are probably trying to create a platform that meets the standards of the Nike brand without losing focus or spending too many resources on the “sizzle” but staying focused on our shared goal of bringing about real change in the world. We have great plans for the future of the platform including making it open to other key actors in the sport for development sector and linking financing mechanisms to support the sector-changing innovators that are identified through the platform. Stay tuned!

WomenWin plays an important role as an advisor on the women in sport sector. They are a unique organization that is focused on amplifying the work of specific entrepreneurs who have uncovered particularly effective interventions and play a very complementary role to both Nike and Ashoka’s Changemakers in the implementation of the long term vision of change.

Find out more: www.nikewomen.com/gamechangers