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Master Thesis Appendix (interviews)

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1 APPENDIX INTERVIEW 1: REVA HAGINS, INHOUSE PROJECT COORDINATOR 1 INTERVIEW 2: LARSULRIK NIELSEN, JUNIOR PROJECT COORDINATOR, GAME. 7 INTERVIEW 3: KANISHKA SONNY SINA, JUNIOR PROJECT COORDINATOR, GAME 10 INTERVIEW 4: CAROLINE ZOE BOHN, COMMUNICATION INTERN, GAME 15 INTERVIEW 5: CAMILLA HERNANI CLAUSEN, INHOUSE INTERN, GAME 18 INTERVIEW 6: MARIA AMRANI, PLAYMAKER COORDINATOR PROGRAMME, GAME 21 INTERVIEW 7: IDA BRIX, HEAD OF COMMUNICATION, GAME 24 INTERVIEW 8: SIMON PRAHM, DIRECTOR GAME 29 Interview 1: Reva Hagins, In-house Project Coordinator AK: “How long have you worked in GAME for ?” RH : “I've been employed in GAME for the past four and a half years.” AK: “What is your role in GAME?” RH: “I am a project manager.” “My primary responsibility is the house here in Copenhagen and the reception staff who run the house.” AK: “What does GAME do?” RH: “We are an indoor street sports facility, GAME Copenhagen that is.” “As an entire organisation, GAME is involved in empowering youth through street sports in different areas throughout Denmark and Lebanon.”
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Page 1: Master Thesis Appendix (interviews)

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APPENDIX  

INTERVIEW  1:    REVA  HAGINS,  IN-­‐HOUSE  PROJECT  COORDINATOR   1  

INTERVIEW  2:  LARS-­‐ULRIK  NIELSEN,  JUNIOR  PROJECT  CO-­‐ORDINATOR,  GAME.   7  

INTERVIEW  3:  KANISHKA  SONNY  SINA,  JUNIOR  PROJECT  CO-­‐ORDINATOR,  GAME   10  

INTERVIEW  4:  CAROLINE  ZOE  BOHN,  COMMUNICATION  INTERN,  GAME   15  

INTERVIEW  5:  CAMILLA  HERNANI  CLAUSEN,  IN-­‐HOUSE  INTERN,  GAME   18  

INTERVIEW  6:  MARIA  AMRANI,  PLAYMAKER  COORDINATOR  PROGRAMME,  GAME   21  

INTERVIEW  7:  IDA  BRIX,  HEAD  OF  COMMUNICATION,  GAME   24  

INTERVIEW  8:  SIMON  PRAHM,  DIRECTOR  GAME   29  

Interview 1: Reva Hagins, In-house Project Coordinator

AK: “How long have you worked in GAME for ?”

RH : “I've been employed in GAME for the past four and a half years.”

AK: “What is your role in GAME?”

RH: “I am a project manager.” “My primary responsibility is the house here in Copenhagen and the

reception staff who run the house.”

AK: “What does GAME do?”

RH: “We are an indoor street sports facility, GAME Copenhagen that is.” “As an entire

organisation, GAME is involved in empowering youth through street sports in different areas

throughout Denmark and Lebanon.”

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AK: “Do you know if GAME operates with certain visions and values? (If so, what are these

values)?”

RH: “Yes it does.” “One of GAME's primary visions is to create lasting social change.” “In order to

this they want to use the youth as opposed to the organisation itself, to make the change.”

AK: “In a self sustaining way you mean?”

RH: “That's the long – term goal, yes”

AK: “Do you think it works in your experience?”

RH: “Right now we're in the starting phase.” “We've just re-structured everything and we've

launched a boot camp that starts this weekend during which we will train close to 100 youth so that

they can become coaches in various zones around the country.”

AK: “What is Corporate Social Responsibility?” “What do you think when I say that ?”

RH: “When you say Corporate Social Responsibility I see it as something that we petition other

companies for, not so much something we do directly.” “I think that it is implied in what we do but

it is not communicated as such.”

AK : “What is good CSR ?”

RH: “Good Social Responsibility is, I guess, backing or donating funds or resources to an

organisation or event that creates a positive change in one way or another.” “That would be good

corporate social change, which is reflective of the organisation.”

AK: “What about GAME's goals ?” “Do you think that these goals have been clearly

communicated to you?”

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RH: “I think they are, of course; to the office staff.” “We have very clear guidelines. I was involved

in creating these must – win battles as we call them.” “We have five must -win battles.”

AK: “Five goals?”

RH: “Five major goals for the organisation.”

AK: “Which are?”

RH: “They are very specific and there are scheduled time lines on them.” “We want to be in ten

different countries by 2020.” “To open four to five new facilities in Denmark by 2017.” “Now it

gets tricky; to create a better office environment, a healthy office environment due to the fact that

we've had a few staff members who have gone down with stress and that have left the organisation

due to one issue or another in a short span of time.” “So that's one of the goals – to create a good

working environment.” “I think (I’m not sure), one of the other must -win battles is about our

economic sustainability.” “Right now we are heavily dependent on the commune and individual

funding.” “The idea is to become independent of that and to have our own capital.”

AK: “Which will be sourced from what?”

RH: “From renting, from new facilities where we go in and run the building as opposed to the

commune doing so.”

AK: “A profit model based on membership fees?”

RH: “Moreso on project management fees.” ”We would actually manage the facilities.” “Right

now we manage the facility but we don't own it.” “The idea is to own and manage the facility.”

AK: “How important are themes such as diversity and anti-discrimination for GAME?”

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RH: “They are really big themes.” “I think from a leadership point of view, from Simon Prahm's

point of view, they are top on his list.” “You can see that in the staff that we have, and in the

activities that we organize.”

AK: “Can you elaborate?”

RH: “Regarding the staff, to start out with, when I started here we had Helene Hane, who is

Egyptian, one of two women in the office, out of seven, I think. I started (I'm South African).”

“Now we have Cecilia who is half Liberian, we had Rasmus Shark who is Danish, married to a

Brazilian.” “He spoke fluent Portuguese and has been back and forth to Brazil. I think that having

this international flavour has become more and more of a priority.”

AK: “Why do you think that this is important?”

RH: “When dealing with street sports, you have to have an overall point of view because street

sports are so new in Denmark.” “We want to be front-runners.” “We have to draw from other

peoples experiences, not only from reading articles but from people who know.” “This was the

primary reason why I was hired.” “They opened StreetMekka without knowing what 'street' was.”

“They knew how to run the zones but they didn't know much about street culture.” “Over the years

they have gotten better at recruiting people who know a bit more about it, be that skating, football,

basketball.” “They have strategically recruited people who know a bit more.”

AK: “Does GAME need to improve its CSR policies? (If it has any?)”

RH: “I don't think it's that important to them, in the sense that we are constantly communicating to

Copenhagen Commune who we have to report to and who give us money to run this place.” “Our

results, the diversity of what we are doing and the effects of what we are doing – we constantly

have to be better, which automatically raises our CSR profile.” “We are not so much on the

receiving end though we are more-so on the receiving end than on the giving end of the CSR

model.”

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AK: “So you don't practice CSR as such but respond to market forces?”

RH: “We are constantly on the lookout for bigger organisations that are looking for CSR profiles.”

AK: “Which you help to facilitate?”

RH: “Yes, exactly”

AK “How good is GAME's internal communication, in your opinion?”

RH: “Now communication can be defined as many things.” “I would say that our internal

communication is good.” “There are many layers to it, of course.” “We have many levels – the full-

time staff and the part time staff.” “We also have the volunteers.” “When it comes to all three

layers, the communication is lacking, but on the top – tier, there is very clear communication.”

AK: “Can you elaborate on this lack of communication?”

RH: “It's simply because we have part – time staff who are not here (in GAME Copenhagen) all the

time, some who aren't directly interested in what we do and then we have others, amongst the part –

time staff that are interested.” “How to find the balance and how to know what to communicate to

the staff, not to make their job feel overwhelming is a big challenge.” “It can easily become a big

challenge when part – time staff are spammed with internal mails about things that are going on.”

“Now there are some staff that would like that and would say 'well I can help with that' but there are

other staff that would say ' this is not quite for me' – 'this is too much.'” “We've tried to

communicate this; I’ve tried to be smarter in the way that I tap the part – time staff on the shoulder

and say ' We've got something that I think you can help with, are you interested ? ' instead of

shooting it out there via a million mails.”

AK: “How have you contributed to GAME’s CSR policy?”

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RH: ”In the beginning, when we started GAME Copenhagen, I think that my part was crucial (not

to tap myself on the shoulder).” “The knowledge that I brought to the table from working in The

U.S and South Africa and the whole idea of rules in the house and discussing responsibility,

discussing the feeling of this house – the idea of ownership – 'this is your house.'” “We try to create

this for our members.” “I was very strong in encouraging the idea that if they feel it's their place,

they will appreciate it more.” “In The U.S. you constantly see rules – the first thing you see when

you walk in is all the rules – things you cannot do.” “The first thing kids tend to do is break those

rules.” “We've left it to the staff to enforce those rules and have the freedom to enforce them the

way they think is right.” “This is really important.” “When we say corporate responsibility, we are

more concerned with personal responsibility, both in our office staff and the part – time staff and

our members.” “It trickles all the way down.” “My boss trusts that I’m going to make the right

choice – I'm always left with that choice.” “I trust that my staff, the part-time staff will make the

right decision and they trust that when they are here, the guys on the court will make the right

decision without them having to say ' You've got to share this court, you're going to have him play

with you.”

AK: “Has GAME's internal communication improved, stayed the same or gotten worse since

you joined the organisation?”

RH: “It has improved.” “We took a look around and said 'hey, everyone is not included, or not

everyone feels included.” “We need to communicate clearly, in one language so that everybody can

understand.” “That means that when it comes to group mails, staff events and such, everything

needs to be clear- cut so everyone understands what is what.” “It's about maintaining a clean line

and not going away from it just because we are lazy or think, 'let me just do something else

instead.” “We've set a standard now that we have Ida Brix. We are expected to uphold that

standard.” “When I speak to my staff, I’m adamant they reply to my mails even if it's just a yes or a

no. Feedback; we need that – it's two ways, it's three.” “I want the feedback - 'I did that, but, I think

it would be better if we did this.' In the position that I am in in the house with things changing

constantly, I need that two-way communication.”

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AK: “Is this an area that needs to be addressed?”

RH: “Yes, in a big way. I think that the new staff have been taken with a soft hand and we've gotten

a bit far away from where we need to be.” “It's my job to get us back on track.” “We need to take

more responsibility.”

Interview 2: Lars-Ulrik Nielsen, Junior Project Co-Ordinator, GAME.

AK: “How long have you been in GAME for?”

LUN:” I'm Lars-Ulrik Nielsen and I've been in GAME for 5 years now”

AK: “What is your role in GAME?”

LUN: “I'm a JK (Junior Project Coordinator).” “This primarily involves sitting in the reception but

also other activities, in my case – organising basketball training for our members.” “I've also done a

lot of co-ordination related to some of the street party events we've had in different zones.” “I've

also been involved in finding sponsorship for some of the projects we have been involved in.”

AK: “What does GAME do ”

LUN: “GAME organizes activities for the youth.” “We meet the youth through sports where our

focus area is integration – integrating young people via sport, which is a good way of getting people

to meet across social classes and so on.” “ We do this both indoors and outdoors so GAME is a lot

of things.” “It started as outdoor activities through basketball but now it's other things too, like

football and parkour, Roller derby and dance.”

AK: “Lots of activities”

LUN: “Yeah, a lot”

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AK: Do you know if GAME operates with certain visions and values? (If so, what are these

values)?

LUN: “That's actually a really good question.” “I'm quite sure they do. I'm not personally aware of

them.”

AK: “You don't?”

LUN: “No, they aren't imprinted in my memory”

AK: “What is Corporate Social Responsibility?”

LUN: “To my understanding, CSR is something that permeates all the levels of the business chain.”

“It's a way that a companies make a name for themselves.”

AK: “Does GAME practice CSR?”

LUN: “I don't believe that GAME practices CSR.” “To my understanding CSR is only applicable in

a corporate context – where firms incorporate something that is social or display social

responsibility.” “I don't think an NGO can do this because their product in itself is built on

something social.” “This is solely because of the 'corporate' part of it.” “I don't think NGO's fall

under this category.”

AK: “Have GAME's goals been clearly communicated to you?”

LUN: “Erm, No I don't think so. It's not something that we bring up for instance at staff meetings

where we say 'We've got this goal that we are trying to achieve.'” “It's not written on our website or

other places.”

AK: “Should there be more material?”

LUN: “I think that goals are a great compass that chart where we'd like to go in order to get all

employees on board.” “I think it's important to get people on board and say 'this is where we'd like

to go and this is the way we'd like to do it.'” “I don't quite know precisely where we'd like to go

with this brand right now, so it's a good question.”

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AK: “How important are themes such as diversity and anti-discrimination for GAME?”

LUN: “I think that diversity is extremely important.” “If we talk about integration and the

integration of the youth, I think that diversity is the key to it.” “It's a way of minimising the rift

between different classes and minimising the prejudices that exist amongst the youth.” “Diversity is

important when it comes to breaking down the prejudices that people may have towards others.”

AK: “What about internally, within the organisation?” “Do you think that GAME is a diverse

workplace?”

LUN: “Definitely.” “I can't really say precisely where people are from – ethnically, but I know that

we are well-represented by men and women of different ages and people with different cultural

backgrounds.” “I think we have a good mix.”

AK: “What is good CSR?”

LUN: ”Good CSR is when one looks at all the place that one works – If we're talking the NGO

world, for instance, we could talk about CO2 – how much paper one uses and how one maintains a

good culture amongst the leadership – making sure that people are happy and that culturally –

related stress is not an issue and so on.” “For me, it's about the people that one meets in their circles

into account.”

AK: “You mentioned that you didn't think that GAME practices CSR.” “If it were to do so,

what would this look like, potentially?”

LUN: “We can make a CSR product or a concept that we give to companies.” ” I'm 100 % sure we

can sell based on this.” “As part of a company's CSR strategy, one could present products but I

don't think that GAME is responsible for doing CSR in itself.” “They can offer others inputs

towards their CSR strategies.”

AK: “So outsourcing CSR?”

LUN: “Precisely.”

AK: “How good is GAME's internal communication?”

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LUN: “Haha!” “I don't know if I should just stop answering this!” “It fluctuates, I would say.” “I

think there is space for improvement and I think that this will always be the case.” “The most

important thing to take into account when we discuss internal communication is that everyone is on

board and that everyone gets a voice.” “On this point, I don't think everyone gets heard.”

AK: “Are the goals and objectives of GAME clearly communicated?”

LUN: “Not that I know of.” “I don't know what they are.” “I know that we have some with regards

to the members we'd like to have in the house (GAME Copenhagen), the amount of money we'd

like to receive funding for and the number of zones we'd like to reach out to.” “In principle, I can

find these things myself in our annual reports and so on so it may be my own fault that I don't

know.” “ I do think they could be more clearly communicated.”

AK: “Has GAME's internal communication improved, stayed the same or gotten worse since

you joined the organisation?”

LUN: “I think it's stayed the same, perhaps a bit better.” “We've got some new systems so it's not

paper -form as it used to be.” “We're a little bit at communicating via intranet and so on so I’d say

that we don't have the same barriers that we once had.” “It's easier to get feedback.” “It's gotten

significantly better thanks to system developments.”

Interview 3: Kanishka Sonny Sina, Junior Project Co-Ordinator, GAME

AK: “How long have you been in GAME for?”

KS: “I've worked at GAME for a little bit over 4 years.” “I've was a volunteer for a year and a half

and now i'm a Junior Project Coordinator.” “I'm also a football trainer for diverse projects.”

AK: “What does GAME do?”

KS: “GAME works with projects for the youth and children.” “They organize street parties and

create awareness in different residential areas for instance where they try and get upcoming talents

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onto a bigger stage.” “GAME is a sort of union life (foreningsliv) but much more than this because

people can come and go (to trainings) as they choose.” “Let's say you've got a union like Vesterbro

football club – if you are required to come twice a week, you have to come.”

AK: “Closed frames?”

KH: “Closed frames, yeah.” “At GAME we operate with more flexibility – you can come and hang

out and leave as you please – it's a lot more open and tailored to the busy boy who doesn't have time

to come from 4-8 or 6-9”.” At the moment, focus is on the house – we are sponsored by amongst

others, Trygfonden who try and get young people involved in sports trainings in the form of

parkour, basketball, football and so on.”

AK: “What is CSR?”

KS: “It's self explanatory.” “CSR is when one is aware of the social circumstances in a society.”

“I'd say that GAME practices CSR in a certain context.” “They don't practice CSR in the house

primarily but in the zones (underprivileged housing areas).”

AK: “Do you know if GAME operates with certain visions and values?” “(If so, what are

these)?”

KS: “I've worked for them for four years now and i'm still unclear about what their official vision

is.”

AK: “Why is this?”

KS: “I feel that GAME has an inner and a periphery vision.” “The inner version for them is to

become larger and larger – reach a lot of people.” “Their periphery vision is of course to be as good

an independent organization as possible, as good an NGO as possible so that they can get a lot of

capital from funds such as DANICA.” “I don't know how I'd define them since there are so many

ways of doing so.” “I remember that the first vision they had was one of getting people from the

streets to the GAME house and give them a good experience, get them out of this problem.” “This

is also why they made the GAME zone in Mjølner-Parken – in order to give them space to practice

hobbies.” “The GAME zones allow them to get a feel of sports and thereafter get them to train at

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the house.” “We do so many things so I don't know what their concrete vision is as such but I do

know that they focus a lot on foreigners – people living in housing projects and so on.”

AK: “Would you say their visions change with time?”

KS: ”It changes all the time and I think that visions will change all the time in all businesses.”

“Society changes all the time and it's very demanding, very dynamic.” “Firms need to be more

organic and should try to decentralize.” “They need to change their working methods constantly to

keep up with what's in at the moment and not be stuck with what was in half a year ago.” “That's

also how CSR works – of course there are some frames within which one must operate but there are

a lot of things that constantly need changing.” “For example, disgruntled foreigners or whatever

particular level of society one needs to focus on.”

AK: “How important are themes such as diversity and anti – discrimination for GAME?”

KS: “Extremely important.” “For instance, with regard to my job in the reception, I have to ask the

various trainers to report how many people attended training and how many of them were

foreigners.” “This is because we have some statistics that we'd like to show to the commune and the

various supporting organizations like Danica.” “It means a lot for them to know that people with

other ethnic backgrounds come to GAME.” “At the end of the day, it is an integration project –

that's why it was started and this is also why GAME wants to move to 10 other countries as part of

our strategy.” “These 10 countries are Arabic – Muslim countries, which makes sense. They would

like to have a bit more diversity.”

AK: “Is this diversity also present in the office, with regard to the people who work at

GAME?”

KS: No. “You can look at the difference between the JK's and their mentality and the higher level

management.” “I wouldn't say that this reflects what is out there on the streets.” “The hiring process

is based a lot more on technical knowledge.” “This is the same in the house – 2 years ago there was

a lot more diversity within the house.” “If you look at who is here today, it is different to who was

here 2-3 years ago.”

AK: “Has GAME lost some of its diversity?”

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KS: “100%.” “I don't doubt it for a second.” “I can remember that four years ago we had a girl club,

with foreign girls that used to come to football tournaments – there were girl teams in the various

tournaments.” “There was a lot more diversity. I'm not saying that this diversity has been lost

completely – it's still there but it's less prominent than it used to be.”

AK: “Is there a reason for this?”

KS: “I think if some people see the same picture every single day, without any diversity – a picture

that could be on their TV or iPhone, it becomes routine.” “GAME does the same things over and

over again.” “They've got a very successful brand that works very well for them.” “They are good,

but I think people lose interest because of things like the pricing.”

AK: “Is that higher now than it has been?”

KS: “It's not higher, but I think that there are many more offers in Copenhagen which are cheaper

than here.” “For instance, during the summer.” “Why would people pay 20 Kr to play football here

when they can do so for free at Nørrebro-hallen or Enghave square, which is a beautiful place and is

very central.”

AK: “Have GAME's goals been clearly communicated to you?”

KS: “No.” “I can remember when we were in Beirut (earlier in the year) someone asked me what it

was that GAME does.” “I still find it difficult to say what we do.” “How can we explain what we do

?” “We do so much but what is our mission.” “I don't know.” “Of course it's out on our website but

there is so much on there so I don't feel like reading it.” “I've been here for 4 years so I’d like to see

what someone who is new in the organization thinks.” “I work here, I get paid for this and I'm not

motivated to read it (the website).” “We don't get an internal newsletter that says what's going on.“

”We have internal meetings which makes it a bit easier but it's in-house.” “There are lots of things

happening outside of the organization that are not clear and there is a difference between what the

top leadership understands and what everyone else understands.”

AK: “How good is GAME's internal communication?”

KS: “It has been very bad but we've got a new communication employee who is very engaged and

enthused about things.” “She needs to get into the GAME flow because there are many things to

keep an eye on.” “We've got funds, sponsors, social media, the commune run us – there are lots of

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balls to keep in the air.” “Communication could be way better but it's hard because there are so

many different levels that mean that complicate the process from top -management to the bottom

layers.” “There are too many layers.” “I hope that GAME becomes flatter as an organization

because I think it's hard for a message to be sent from the top leadership and down.” “We are many

employees – perhaps 20 Junior Project Coordinators – around 15 in the office and a further 6-7 on

the highest level and there is also the board.” “So we're quite a lot and we've got problems with

communication, of course we do.”

AK: “How have you contributed to GAME’s CSR?”

KS: “I'm active socially – social responsibility if you want to call it that.” “I've done lots of

volunteer work and I’ve also done a lot of events within the house where I have of course

contributed to building GAME's name.” “When I've organized football tournaments, I've made sure

that GAME's logo was included.” “I work for GAME so if GAME messes up, it's also my

responsibility.” “I would always like GAME to perform well – it's my workplace.” ” I've drawn up

optimization plans explaining how we can work better as an organization -from the top leadership

to the Junior Coordinators.”

AK: “What were the results of these plans?”

KS: “They (the leadership) like parts of them but there are many things that need to be changed.” “I

said this to them because I've personally worked with marketing.” “There were many things and

they wanted me to be more concrete about some of them.” “They trickled out unfortunately because

it took them a long time to reply as they were busy with all sorts of other things.” “One of things I

talked bout was getting the Junior Coordinators to focus on acquiring more engagement within

football as this is an integration sport (as basketball is In U.S.A).” “GAME no longer has this

football philosophy when we compare with where we were 4 years ago.” “Parkour is a more elite

sport for example, or basketball for that matter.”

AK: “You have also linked GAME with your own organization, Take My Hand.” “Can you

elaborate on this collaboration?”

KS: “We don't have an official partnership.” “We have (Take My Hand) an event once a year where

we organize a football tournament.” “Last year in June we organized a football tournament for

Liberia where we built five wells in Liberia by collecting 50'000 kroner.” “I work here so it's much

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easier for me to reach within the organization – I can organize events based on contracts between

myself and the leadership.” “GAME gets a lot of promotion through these sorts of events.”

Interview 4: Caroline Zoe Bohn, Communication Intern, GAME

AK: “How long have you been in GAME for?”

CB: “I've been here since the 26th of January”

AK: “You're quite new then. What's your role at GAME?”

CB: “I'm a communication intern.”

AK: “And what does that entail?”

CB: “It implies lots of different things.” “Anything that has something to do with communication.”

“We're a new department.” “It is both external as well as internal communication.” “I work a lot

with social media.” “I've helped formulate letters and press releases.” “I've spoken to newspapers

and I've also co-ordinated internal communication, done content marketing.” “Lots of different

things.”

AK: “What does GAME do?”

CB: “GAME is an organization, an NGO that works with street sports and street culture for all, with

focus on underprivileged children and youth.”

AK: “Do you know if GAME operates with certain visions and values? (If so, what are these

Values?)”

CB: “Yeah, there's the one about informal professionalism.” “Inclusion is also something that I

know they operate within.”

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AK: “What is CSR?”

CB: “GAME is quite CSR-ish because they have a high degree of social responsibility.” “It's

actually not something that we have discussed while I’ve been here with regard to our CSR

strategy.” “I think it exists as an unwritten rule”

AK: “Do you think that GAME needs to work on its CSR profile?”

CB: “At one point or another, yeah.” “It would be very logical for them to make a sharp strategy so

they themselves were aware of what they want to do.”

AK: “Is it something that you think is important to discuss in a communication context?”

CB: “Yeah, there are many things that I think are important to discuss but because we're such a new

department, we need to take one thing at a time.”

AK: “Have GAME's goals been clearly communicated to you?”

CB: “Yeah, I would say so.” “It's something that they are quite keen on. They've got a set of 'must

win battles.'”

AK: “Which are?”

CB: “I think there are six... perhaps seven, I don't really remember.” “The one that I remember the

most had something to do with being in 10 countries before 2020, 20 zones In Denmark and halls in

other Danish towns.” “They also want to improve working conditions for employees; make the

working conditions even better.” “They have implemented a buddy system for those who are

employed full-time.” “A buddy is someone who, preferably, works with something completely

different who one is supposed to meet with once a month – go for a walk with or just talk to.” “This

is necessarily strictly work – related but actually more about how people are doing.” “We've just

been in Lebanon and that was a rather rapidly organized trip, so it's going well with this objective.”

“I can't remember the other objectives but they have told us about them and I have noted them

down.”

AK: “How important are themes such as diversity and anti – discrimination for GAME?”

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CB: “I feel that they are very important, both with regard to everything that we do in general but

also as concerns our social media work.” “I can note that Ida (the communication head) has them in

mind when i've been out taking pictures.” “For example, for last weekend's playmaker weekend

where I took pictures, I took one of a young boy who looked Nordic in appearance and had a hoodie

on; looked a bit street and a Muslim girl with a headscarf next to him.” “They stood there and held

each other – that was really cool.” “I think that GAME would like to show that this is a part of us.”

AK: “Is that something that is implicit in the day-to day workings at GAME?”

CB: “I haven't seen it stated anywhere, so yeah it is.”

AK: “How good is GAME's internal communication?”

CB: “I think it's very good.” “We all work in an open office which means that we take everything as

it comes and go over to each other.” “We also send emails and we use Jamma, which is a Facebook

rip-off but specifically for use in companies.” “It's very like Facebook – everything from liking to

commenting and the newsfeed is similar. Everyone in the organization is there.”

AK: “Not the Junior Coordinators though…”

CB: “No, I don't think so.” “One can also use hashtags (e.g. 'my day') where one reports what they

are up to, for instance when we are out of the house.” “We follow what we're all up to. Moreover,

we meet every Monday morning and do a status – the house and the playmaker programme

separate.” “In the communication department we alternate so we can get everything included.”

“We've also got a staff meeting the last Friday of the month where we round up everything.” “How

is it going with our must-win battles?” “We also do a round where everyone reports back about

what they've been up to for the last month.” “I really think that the internal communication is good

– we are all very aware of what each other is up to.” “The last Thursday of every month, we eat

breakfast together at a cafe as well.” “I think that our internal communication works well.”

“External communication needs to be improved – it's a bit unstructured. It needs to be more

consistent. It will come though.”

AK: “Work and play combined?”

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CB: “Yes, at lunchtimes for instance, there is a rule that we cannot talk about work – related

things.”

AK: “How have you contributed to GAME’s CSR?”

CB: “I haven't had the chance to get into specific things as I’ve done a bit of everything.” “I would

really like to help formulate some CSR strategies whilst I am here because I think it's still a bit

unclear.” “When one considers how new the communication department is, this is understandable.”

Interview 5: Camilla Hernani Clausen, In-house intern, GAME

AK: “How long have you been in GAME for?”

CC: “I've been here since the 26th of January 2015 – just a couple of months.”

AK: “What is your role at GAME?”

CC: “I'm an intern at GAME HQ, that is here in the house.” “I'm in charge of volunteering and what

we call social projects.” “I'm involved in recruiting volunteers to the house, recruiting users from

zones, developing strategies related to this.” “I'm heavily involved in a project that's called “Support

From The Asphalt” together with our senior project leader.” “We're at the start of the process now

that funds have been freed and the sports programme will commence after the summer.” “This is a

project in conjunction with the Copenhagen commune, Esbjerg commune and Street Movement.”

“It involves getting children with psychological problems into the house where they can practice

street sports – working with centres in the Copenhagen commune and later in Esbjerg commune

when their house is ready.” “There has been a similar project before with day offers that involved

organizations like Nexus.” “They still use the house today.” “This project is new in the sense that it

attracts the families of these children, not just the children themselves.” “They are more involved in

their lives than teaching assistants so it makes sense for them.”

AK: “What does GAME do?”

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CC: “GAME facilitates and organizes street sports in underprivileged housing areas across the

nation.” “That's a short definition.” (laughs)

AK: “Do you know if GAME operates with certain visions and values? (If so, what are these

values)?”

CC: “Yeah, I have read their visions but this was before I started here.” “They try to work with

social differences.” “It's a non -profit organization so even though they are an association that has

members who pay to come here, it still runs smoothly.” “We try to work with lots of different

people by giving a bit and getting a bit.” “They also get transparency from us In that they know

what it is we do.” “We have some must -win battles that are our visions.” “This involves our

internationalization – we need to reach out to more countries (right now we're only in Denmark and

Lebanon).” “We're working very hard on this.” “In relation to social projects (for instance the

support from the asphalt project), we aim to share knowledge and work towards street sports

accommodating more people than takes place through traditional sports associations in Denmark.”

“Here, one can come and go as one chooses and it's more inclusive for everyone.” “They also have

some goals within the playmaker programme and we are the secretary for the national platform for

street sports, which has just been founded.”

AK: “What is CSR?”

CC: “I don't really know, to be honest.” “That one creates some sort of social change in one way or

another.”

AK: “Does GAME practice CSR?”

CC: “Yeah, I definitely think so.” “Especially with regards to the fact that they run on a voluntary

basis in the zones.” “We've just had the playmaker weekend where we've educated 94 playmakers

from all over Denmark to be volunteers in their local underprivileged housing areas.” “We try and

make a difference to the lives of children and youth, so I think we practice CSR.”

AK: “Have GAME's goals been clearly communicated to you?”

CC:” In general, yes.” “In everything that we do, for instance in our yearly reports, it's quite clear

that we are a non-profit and we're trying to make a difference.” “I understand them well myself.”

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“In the office, we are all people who are enthused about what we do and we battle on various

platforms.”

AK: “How important are themes such as diversity and anti – discrimination for GAME?”

CC: ”I think they are very important.” “We have statistics that measure how many people train here

and how many of them are from other ethnic backgrounds than Danish.” “We try to incorporate all

these elements.” “When we are out in the zones (some of which get stamped as ghettos ) we

encounter a lot of diversity.” “I think it's a large part of our work – everyone is welcome and fights

side-by side and it's about sport instead of where one comes from.”

AK: “What is good CSR?”

CC: “I think that one often experiences that there are many who perform ad hoc tasks.” “GAME

tries to work with a long – term vision in mind.” “There should be a good long – term perspective in

things, not that one organizes an event right now but that we work for the long-term and for

members to feel connected to the house.” “They should not just come here to play basketball – they

should feel that they can be here all the time.” “The same goes for the support from the asphalt

programme – it's all about long – term change, hence us working with the families and spouses.”

AK: “How good is GAME's internal communication?”

CC: “I think it's really good!” “There's a lot of dialogue at the lunch table despite the fact that we all

work with different projects – I think we all understand what everyone is up to.” “We also have a

personnel meeting every Monday where we round up what's going to happen the week ahead in

which department.” “There is also a staff meeting once every month where everyone can chip in

and we do an opinion round.” “If someone wants to share something, this can be done here.” “As an

intern, we have one on one's from time to time and it sounds like the various employees from

different departments are keen on non work-related dialogues.” “There are office buddies who one

can share everything with.”

AK: “Has GAME's internal communication improved, stayed the same or gotten worse since

you joined the organisation?”

CC: “I haven't been here for that long so i'd say it's been at the same level.” “I can feel that the fact

they have the communication department means that more things are formulated.” “This (the

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department) was founded in the summer.” “It appears that there are some things that seem new but

which they are trying to keep everyone abreast of.” “It's nice that there are Monday morning

meetings to keep us on the ball.”

AK: “How have you contributed to GAME’s CSR?”

CC: “Well I work hard on the support from the asphalt project and maybe this hasn't created social

change yet as the programme starts after the summer.” “I've been a part of creating concepts related

to this, such as why it is important to have the families and spouses of our target group included.” “I

also work with an open school pool through which one can gain funding through working with

schools and hobby agreements in such a way that children can come here during school hours.”

“We're trying to get the local area involved as much as possible.” “I think I’ve done a little bit here

so far (laughs).”

Interview 6: Maria Amrani, Playmaker Coordinator Programme, GAME

AK: “How long have you been in GAME for?”

MA: “I started at the same time as Ida Brix (Communication head), so I haven't been here for so

long.”

AK: “What is your role at GAME?”

MA: “I help co – ordinate the playmaker programme.” “We empower a lot of cool, engaged young

people in different residential areas around Denmark by giving them coaching and advice so that

they can organize street sport activities in their zones.” “We want them to become young leaders

that can be instrumental in co-ordinating activities in their residential areas that can improve the

overall health and well-being of people living there.”

AK: “What does GAME do?”

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MA: “Game is a non -profit organization.” “We work to empower youth through street sports that

can create sustainable social change in our society.”

AK: “What is CSR?”

MA: “CSR refers to the responsibility to society that businesses have or should have.” “Businesses

have a responsibility to their stakeholders and to their supply chain.” “For instance with regard to

the amount of waste they produce and how it is disposed of.” “We have an obligation as a business

to operate in an ethically correct manner.”

AK: Does GAME practice CSR?

MA: “I would say so.” “We operate in a socially responsible way, working to help improve the

lives of others through our work, so in a way it's a given.” “I would say that internally, in the office,

we have a culture of disposing of our waste in the correct way – sorting it accordingly for instance.”

“We also facilitate other companies CSR goals by providing them with a link to sports culture

which they can fund and be a part of in some way or another.”

AK: “Have GAME's goals been clearly communicated to you?”

MA: “Yes, I would say so.” “Everyone in the office is aware of where we are headed and what we

are doing.” “We have regular meetings and work in an open office environment which makes this

possible.”

AK: “How important are themes such as diversity and anti – discrimination for GAME?”

MA: “Extremely important.” “They are at the core of our philosophy.” “Everyone should be able to

be a part of our community, irrespective of their social class or ethnicity.” “This is one of GAME's

central motives.” “We work with youth of all ethnicities and persuasions and try to make sure that

everyone feels involved and empowered.” “We work to empower at all levels so that it's not just us

saying what needs to be done but that our target group take things into their own hands and

empower themselves and those around them.”

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AK: “What is good CSR?”

MA: “Good CSR entails having good relationships with one's stakeholders and operating in a

responsible manner. Businesses have a responsibility to do so.”

AK: “Does GAME need to improve its CSR policies? (If it has any) ?”

MA: “We don't practice CSR directly in that sense but we can and will work on the manner in

which we relate to and work with other companies who have their own CSR goals.” “This is a key

part of GAME's future, especially when you consider our expansion targets and our desire to branch

out in other countries.” “We need to cultivate our strategy so that we can make the most out of the

investment other companies want to make in us and become more attractive to other partners whilst

we continue working hard to improve people's lives.”

AK: “How good is GAME's internal communication?”

MA: “Pretty good.” “The communication department is working hard to improve our

communication, both internally and externally.”

AK: “Are the goals and objectives of GAME clearly communicated?”

MA: “Yes they are, we have regular meetings where we discuss what is going on and where

everyone can see who is doing what.”

AK: “How have you contributed to GAME’s CSR?”

MA: “I've worked hard on the playmaker programme – last weekend we had hundreds of

playmakers from all over the country here in the house as part of their education.” “I hope my

efforts make a difference to their lives.”

AK: “Has GAME's internal communication improved, stayed the same or gotten worse since

you joined the organisation?”

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MA: “I joined at the same time as Ida Brix (communication) joined, so it's difficult to judge.” “I do

know that we are working to make things even better.” “It' is complex however, because it involves

both internal as well as external communication.”

Interview 7: Ida Brix, Head of Communication, GAME

AK: “How long have you been in GAME for?”

IB: “I've been employed since the 1st of June 2014; almost a year now.”

AK: “What is your role in GAME?”

IB: “I'm the head of communication.” “I work with everything related to communication -both

internally, externally, press, development, sponsorship... lots of different things.”

AK: “What is CSR?”

IB: “I think that for us, it is something that we can help companies with.” “We can help them with

their social responsibilities.”

AK: “Does GAME practice CSR?”

IB: ” We are a social responsibility.” “As our goal is social change for underprivileged youth –

actually no, for children and youth in underprivileged areas; we are a social mission.” “So our CSR

would be when we engage with companies for example.” “At the moment, we are working with a

company that I can't name at this point because the agreement is not in place.” “Co-operation with

us will be sponsorship – based where they give us some things, and perhaps money- we can work

towards their workplace becoming more open, for example for people with other ethnic

backgrounds than Danish.”

AK: “Is this a trial or part of a strategy by GAME to engage with other companies?”

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IB:” I haven't been here for that long, but, with regards to working with companies, there will

always be different steps of social engagement that we can interact with companies on.” “The goal

will always be to make them better, socially.” “Sometimes they can also just donate money or balls

to zones.” “They can give prizes to sports tournaments such as GAME finals.” “This makes it easier

for us to attract youth who we can have an effect on.”

AK: “What does GAME do?”

IB: “We create social change for children and youth.”

AK: “Have GAME's goals been clearly communicated to you?”

IB: “Yes, I have been involved in creating them (laughs).” “It could be worth discussing if everyone

in the house understands them and how they have been communicated to them.” “I'm in a

completely different position to most of the others.” “I think that it is always a challenge to

communicate internally.” “The 'why' as we call it here – Why do we do what we do?” “In everyday

work-life, I've got to see my shifts through, I've got to do a production plan, I've got to run GAME

finals, there's not that much 'why' in this.” “However, these things are what one is measured on

(Have you made a production plan, how many playmakers have registered and all sorts of other

things).” “The 'why' can easily disappear in the everyday running of GAME.”

AK: “Is this the biggest challenge that you see with regard to internal communication?”

IB: “It's a tie (laughs).” “I also think that why one employed is important with regard to internal

communication – that one is seen.” “One of the goals for me, with regard to internal

communication, is that of understanding what one is doing here.” “This is just as important a

priority as why GAME exists.” “There's a macro perspective – what is GAME here for ?” “There is

a micro perspective – what am I here for?” “(Which internal communication needs to solve) and is

difficult because irrespective of the number of emails one sends to people stating 'This is our

strategy and our mission, goal etc...' people won't read them.”

AK: “People are also different in GAME and have different working hours – some may not be

here at the same time.”

IB: “The biggest challenge is the Junior Project Coordinators (JK's).” “They are here at different

times to when we are here and have very few shifts.” “If I could hold a meeting with the JKs every

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month that would be fantastic but that will already take up half of a JK's time if I had to hold

meetings with them.” “Time is definitely a perspective.” “I think that the trip we had to Lebanon

opened my eyes to what sort of a resource they are.” “I've always known what sort of a resource

they are in-house with regards to our target group – the people that come here.” “They are the most

important resource.” “I think that i've perhaps failed to see the inwardly resourceful qualities of JK's

with regard to HQ and the role that they could play.” “Another thing is that we have a huge flow of

interns, student workers and so on.” “I think that it's a sign of good health when interns become

student workers but otherwise there is a flow that has the advantage of constantly providing us with

new knowledge, new perspectives – sometimes we get completely crazy people and other times

very normal people – all sorts of types of people but, everything we've invested in people sieves out

! It's a double -edged sword – we get a lot of energy and we are driven by youth so it's not

appropriate that 42 year-old me always calls the shots.” “We need inputs but there is also a

downside with regard to flow and how open we are when it comes to accepting messages about

what our 'why' is for example.”

AK: “Is there a strategy In place to tackle these challenges?”

IB: “For example, making more routine personnel meetings – that I’m involved in both personnel

group meetings – there's HQ and JK meetings.” “Doing so means that I’ve got a chance to create a

more holistic package with regards to communication.” “We've got a HQ intranet that we would

really like to roll out to the JK's (Jamma).” “Everything takes time because we have to get it up and

running in HQ first and then find out if it even makes sense for the JK's to be involved.” “It could

also be a barrier.” “One needs to be sharp when it comes to motivating people to ask themselves

what sort of a place am I in?” “It's not up to the individual, it's chiefly my responsibility.” “My

responsibility extends to creating an environment where one asks why is it like this?” “For instance

there was someone that asked about the playmaker camp – is it not a boot camp anymore?” “Do

playmakers exist anymore?” “One of the JK's came to me and told me that they had not been

informed – this is part of GAME's why – the playmakers education.” “It could be that, as a JK, one

doesn't think, 'We've been informed as to what our goal is and why the playmaker education exists'

however, it is part of our goals.” “It's a conundrum that's very difficult to formulate.”

AK: “There's a lot of dynamism.”

IB: “Yeah and I think that sometimes when people are asked what GAME's role is that they should

say something classy – something wild.” “But what does it mean for him over there or here?”

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AK: “There are different ways of seeing it, obviously”

IB: “I would be disappointed if everyone said the same thing because then it would mean that we

are all small soldiers.”

AK: “How important are themes such as diversity and anti – discrimination for GAME ?”

IB: “Diversity is very important.” “Ant- discrimination is something that we haven't really worked

with apart from when it comes to 'us and them.'” “We are 'them' – we are good at incorporating

ethnic minorities and the others are not.” “Our rhetoric is a bit a long the lines of society as a whole

being extremely discriminatory towards ethnic minorities – both politically and with regard to

employment, discursive – the manner in which the media talks about things.” “Diversity is highly

prioritized and it's worked well for us when it comes to including diversity, both with regard to

colour, gender, sexuality, political orientation and so much more.” “All the parameters that can be

found are effectively included by GAME.” “The priority with regard to anti-discrimination is just as

high but I think that it's easier for us to look at 'us versus them' instead of internally with regards to

us.”

AK: “What is the situation for us, internally?”

IB: “Well, for example, Cecilia (Project coordinator, external) joined and asked how we count how

many ethnic minorities have taken part in trainings?” “We do so by the coaches of each training

pointing out who is dark-skinned.”

AK: “Something that has been debated amongst the Junior Project Coordinators for some

time now…”

IB: “Which is great.” “I know what the 'why' is for when I sit down and talk to a politician and say

3S Sport get a walloping half a million, we get none.'” “They don't integrate ethnic minorities – we

can ! I have a why – I know why we can use the training numbers – we can practice more street

sports.” “The coach that's counting may not know this- they themselves are often ethnic minorities

themselves or have a different skin colour.” “We've discussed whether we should conduct a study

with regard to street sports, where we spoke to Maria Amrani (playmaker programme) whose dad is

Moroccan and who doesn't see herself as an ethnic minority but who would do so if we asked in

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another way.” “The discussion is there but I don't personally think that we phrase the questions well

enough. We know what the why is but what we're doing in GAME is discriminatory.”

AK: Paradoxically, perhaps?

IB: “Yeah. I'm not worried though – we know what our why is and this makes us accommodating

towards ethnic minorities, which is where we are at – it's where the biggest social problems exist in

relation to what we do.” “It is the area we operate in and we should be able to celebrate our

successes but we should also be able to display our results.” “If we want to work against inequality,

we need to be able to point out different ethnicities or descendants of another ethnic minority or

other skin colours.” “We need to be able to dare to say this because this is where the social battle

lies – health, economics, work and how we talk about people.” “It can really be a paradox to see

how we talk about it and how we measure it.” “There isn't any register – one needs to ask.” “This is

why it's great to have new people in, like Cecilia who asks 'what on earth are you doing?'” “I can

also hear that there are JK's who have raised the issue.” “If we are to become an authority in this

area, we need to show that we can do what no others can.” “Everything else is totally white – you

need the right clothes and it costs so much money to be a part of.” “My son's football club on

Amager is completely white!” “What do we do then?” “We maybe need to put some positive

wording on how diverse the training sessions are and rank them according to diversity?” “To what

extent have we managed to attract different sorts of people?” “We need to change the rhetoric to a

more positive one.” “You don't need to go any further than our residential zones to see that we've

got a diverse target group that no one else is doing anything about.”

AK: “Shifting focus, we have briefly discussed GAME's relationship to CSR.” “Does GAME

need to improve its CSR policies?”

IB: “We don't have a CSR policy since our objective is a social one.” “We can work towards better

partnerships with companies so that we facilitate their CSR.” “Working with commercial

enterprises (though not only commercial companies) – in relation to us getting balls, soda or

whatever but also so that they gain something from us.” “It could definitely be something that's

written down – more as a strategy than a policy.” “We don't work that much with policies – more

with strategies and deadlines.” “Morten (Bo Andersen – sponsorships) is the one in charge of the

partnerships with companies and is working on them.” “I can send them to you – it's on the server.”

“One of our must -win battles is that of boosting our own profits.” “For example, we've got a Faxe

Kondi banner here (points to a banner) – we've got an income from them, some of which we need to

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do something for, some of which is a given.” “For instance, they pay for our football tournaments

and Friday jams out in the zones.” “This is solo-financing.” “If they became our head sponsor –

they would move from being sponsors to donors – donors are people like the ministry for instance.”

“ The difference between the two is not set in stone as alliances can overlap.” “Product sponsorship

can turn into cash sponsorship- it can even become something internal for them, which is where we

wander a bit more into CSR territory.”

Interview 8: Simon Prahm, Director GAME

AK: “How long have you been in GAME for?”

SP: “I was involved in starting GAME.” “That was back in 2001.” “Our first season was in 2002

and there was some preparation to be done before this.” “There were three of us; me, with my

background from Copenhagen University (I studied sports back then and was the foreman of the

basketball club, Falcon).” “Martin Schulz, one of my good friends was another of the founders – he

has a background from the business school.” “He could do different things to what I was capable of

so we complemented each other very well.” “George Goldsmith was the last of the three,

American.” “He had contacts to professional players in U.S.A who came over and run our camps

over the summer the first couple of years, (what we today know as street Game).”

AK “What is your role at GAME?”

SP: “I'm the director – I'm the link between our office here and the board.”

AK “What does GAME do?”

SP: GAME works to create social change through youth -life; street sport and street culture.” “We

do so in various ways; primarily through sport.” “We have a sports-first approach; we try to

incorporate sports in everything that we do.” “This notwithstanding, it's not just sports that we focus

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on.” “For example, in Lebanon, we have run programmes (camps) where we've focused on rap, we

work together with Rap Politics for instance.” “We've used the culture around sports to bring other

aspects to the surface.” “Here in the house we've got our deejay school and we've run street art and

various other activities.” “So it's primarily through sport that we try to create social change.”

AK: “What values and visions does GAME operate with?”

SP: “We've got five values; four sorry, You know them yourself (laughs) but I can name them, they

are : “Inclusion - Being inclusive and bringing people together who wouldn't otherwise come

together but also allowing people to have an ownership over it (inlcusion).” “A good example is our

annual meeting – we've got youth from our zones who join this and they have a say in electing the

foreman who will lead the organisation.” “We also want to be sustainable; this is of course about

being environmentally correct and aware, reducing Co2.” “It's also about being sustainable in the

long – run so we get a bit of financial stability in everything so we don't get things in today that

disappear tomorrow.” “It's about creating a path ahead of us so we can create some continuity.”

“Moreover, we have a goal of being informally professional – We are a grassroots organisation

and we try to create change from the bottom – up.” “We would still like to do so in a professional

manner so we have ideals that dictate that we respect deadlines and many other things.” “We are not

as fully – formed as some other NGO's.” “We try and keep abreast of what's going on in many

different contexts regardless of whether it's the youth from Voldsmose or a donor that we are

dealing with.” “We try to be professional.” “We've got four values and they are on our website –

these are the values we try and operate within.”

AK: “What is CSR?”

SP: “I think it's a very good thing – it's not something that is relevant for us because we are not

corporate.” “Social responsibility is what everything is linked to here at GAME.”

AK “What is good CSR?”

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SP: “That businesses reduce their footprint with regard to CO2, in relation to making sure that

employees have decent conditions – as an extension to the whole sustainability mindset that Gro

Brundtland, the former Norwegian prime minister pushed through the U.N system – it's good that

we are here today but there are other generations who will take over things after us.” “We, as

companies, need to make sure that we leave conditions behind that ensure that a life, at the level

that we know it today, is also possible so we don't empty the world's resources.” “I don't think that

this is something that can be assigned to an NGO because we are not like Walmart or Mærsk or

other large firms; companies that harvest things from the earth.” “We can be the link in the chain

between companies and the world out there.” “That's what the role of NGO's was earlier – it was

them that did CSR for firms but we've found out since then is that firms have internally considered

how we can make a difference so that CSR doesn't become a campaign but rather an integrated of

the entire organisation's agenda.”

AK: “ Do you think that this is something that GAME needs to work on in the future? How

does GAME fit into the CSR narrative?”

SP: “I don't think that it's one of our goals (becoming good at working with other organisations with

regard to CSR) because if we can generate finance in other ways, I am of the opinion that we'll

generate just as good results.” “I don't see it as a necessary means to achieving our goals but the

strategy that we have now, to extend to 10 countries by 2020 is one that can be achieved without

large companies.” “This notwithstanding, nobody says that it' not an advantage if we manage to

attract large companies.” “Depending on who it is we attract and the sort of value – match exists

with regard to what we would like to do and what they would like to achieve, we could get support

that would be more free than the sort of funding we could get from the EU or other international

funding, for instance.” “So there could be some advantages but I would say that if we looked back

at the 14 years of GAME's existence, the support we have got from companies is quite limited.”

AK: “Have you tried hard to get such support?”

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SP: “The time we've spent on sponsors doesn't justify the result of what has come out of

sponsorship when we compare with what we've been able to acquire from private funds and state

pools.” “This could change.” “Lego, for example, have recently given 20 million over a 3 year

period to UNICEF as part of a new agreement.” “That's a lot of money but we're experiencing that a

lot of CSR is going from giving money out here and there to detailed partnerships today.” “We are

not UNICEF so there's still some way to go when it comes to us forging significant partnerships.”

AK: “GAME has recently been ranked as one of the top 500 NGO's in the world. Does this

help the case as far as forging partnerships goes?”

SP: “Definitely.” “It's something that is interesting.” “I wouldn't say that it's something that we

focus on currently but we would like to do so in the long – term.” “As a director, I need to pit things

against each other and argue that we use 300 hours on one activity which provides us with a

million.” “A million Is a lot of money in corporate social responsibility but when we make a SATS

pool agreement, we are typically up on the 4-million mark.” “When we've looked for money on the

international scene, we've often got higher figures than this. CSR is a hot topic but for an

organisation such as ours I think that we pit things up against what we can get out of it.”

“Historically, I can say that it is funds that finance us (they are also private but they are not directly

affiliated with companies.”

AK: “How important are themes such as diversity and anti-discrimination for GAME?”

SP: “They are, quite naturally, important for us because we are one of our goals is that of creating

social change.” “Through the years, we've focused on youth of other ethnic backgrounds.” “This is

because we can see that it is them in particular that fall out of many statistics.” “There are more

poor children with other ethnic backgrounds than poor children with a Danish background.” “We

prioritize reaching out to this group of children and youth so it's important for us, which is why we

have the value of being inclusive – we would like to have everyone with us through sports.”

AK: “Is this something that Is evident in the hiring of personnel by GAME?”

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SP: “I think so.” “I think that we have a more diverse workforce than a lot of other places.” “We are

also more diverse than the general population as a whole.” “With regard to full – time employees,

there is perhaps room for more diversity.” “I don't know – four out of twelve have roots in other

cultures so we are relatively diverse.” “We don't make it a point to hire people with a diverse

background instead of looking at their qualifications – we look primarily at qualifications but

diversity can actually be a qualification sometimes with regard to reaching out to some of the

children and youth that we'd like to have on board.”

AK: “What do you do in order to communicate the organisation's goals to employees?”

SP: “We communicate the goals primarily within the office, when compared to communicating to

the Junior Project Coordinators and other people that work for us.” “We have talked about doing

more to address this.” “Strategy where our goals are stated and where we define our general mission

and vision is something that the office has been involved in – there's a dynamic between HQ and

the board and employees are heavily involved in this.” “I think that we could be better at

communicating in our second and third tiers.”

AK: “How?”

SP: “This can be done in many ways.” “We do so at the Playmaker camps where we talk about our

general aims, which is of course very important when dealing with volunteers- it is them that go out

there and work for free.” “If we don't light a fire beneath and within them with regards to making a

difference, the chance of them doing it for free week after week is not that high.” “With regard to

the Junior Project Coordinators here in the office, we could do more.” “I can't determine what this

entails at the moment but a lot of it has to do with internal communication – our intranet, Jamma for

example.” “Everyone in the office is on this but our Junior Coordinators are not.” “We have talked

about including them in this as well.” “We will soon be opening a house in Esbjerg so we need to

focus more on the Junior Project Coordinators and make sure that our values permeate all levels of

the organisation.”


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