Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance chooses Alive and Kicking as the winner of its £50,000 Sustainable Development Goals award

Global law firm Clifford Chance has named not for profit employment organisation Alive and Kicking as the winner of its United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG) award. Alive and Kicking's core operation is the production of ethically and sustainably made sports balls to help adults in vulnerable job groups, including refugees, by creating employment opportunities across sub-Saharan Africa. The charity will receive a £50,000 donation and 500 hours of pro bono support over an 18-month period.

This year's UN SDG Award was primarily centred on UN SDG 8 and the creation of sustainable economic opportunities to help people become self-reliant. Alive and Kicking creates direct employment through its own centres and works in partnership with beneficiaries for its "Business in a Box" training programme which teaches refugees how to make and fix high quality sports balls, as well as build entrepreneurship skills so they can set up their own businesses. The award will support Alive and Kicking to scale up to working in other countries in Africa, develop commercial partnerships with more organisations and build awareness of its work.

Adrian Cartwright, Clifford Chance's Global Senior Partner said: "The judges were incredibly impressed by the practical impact that Alive and Kicking has achieved over the last two years in terms of its partnerships, environmental sustainability and the skills development enabled by its programmes. Not only was the standard of entries exceptionally high again this year but we also received the most number of entries in the three years of running this award, so a huge congratulations goes to the team on this achievement."

Ben Sadler, CEO of Alive and Kicking added: “We are thrilled to be chosen as this years' winners as so much of our team's hard work and effort goes into UN SDG 8 themes around ensuring people facing disadvantage are empowered to access ethical and inclusive employment, and we continue to go from strength to strength. We look forward to working with Clifford Chance to kickstart our next phase of growth including further improving our operations and growing awareness of our work and our brand."

Read more about Clifford Chance's approach to responsible business.