The summit on Monday July 21 at Glasgow Caledonian University will be hosted by Glasgow 2014 Games officials, along with the Scottish Government and Glasgow City Council, and will be attended by global sports legacy organisation Beyond Sport.

Organisers of the event say that the main focus of the gathering is to explore the power of the Games to advance promotion of and respect for the Commonwealth Games Federation's core values of humanity, equality and destiny.

Among those set to contribute at the event include Glasgow 2014 chief executive David Grevemberg, Scotland's Minister for External Affairs and International Development Humza Yousaf, and Glasgow City Council Deputy Leader Archie Graham.

Also attending will be Mel Young, founder of the Homeless World Cup, and Rimla Akhtar, chairperson of the Muslim Women's Sports Foundation.

The Beyond the Games gathering, staged in partnership with official Glasgow 2014 IT hardware and data centre supporter Dell, will also feature addresses from International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board member and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) President Sir Craig Reedie, former UNICEF President Lord Puttman, multi-Paralympic champion Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson and former National Basketball Association (NBA) player John Amaechi.

Former NBA player John Amaechi will be one of the speakers at the Beyond the Games summit in Glasgow next month ©Bongarts/Getty Images



"Glasgow 2014 is a diverse and inclusive organisation and we want to use the power of the Commonwealth Games to create a legacy of which Glasgow, Scotland and the wider Commonwealth can be proud," said Grevemberg, who is set to take over as chief executive of the Commonwealth Games Federation later this year.

"Beyond the Games is the perfect stage for us to work with people involved in using sport to drive positive social change both locally and internationally as part of that legacy."

A strong focus of the summit will be to develop a core framework of rights and values for future Commonwealth Games host cities to consider when hosting major sporting events while through its role as a Glasgow 2014 charity partner and global partner of Beyond Sport, UNICEF will play a key role in focusing debate on how future Commonwealth Games can best protect and promote children's rights.

"UNICEF and Glasgow 2014's groundbreaking partnership will harness the power of sport to save and change children's lives in Scotland and throughout the Commonwealth," said UNICEF UK Commonwealth Games project director Tom Burstow.

"Beyond the Games provides a unique opportunity to share the ways in which the Commonwealth Games can promote and protect children's rights, drawing on the experience of Glasgow and looking forward to the Gold Coast and beyond."

The Beyond the Games summit in Glasgow will explore the power of sport to affect social change through events such as the Homeless World Cup ©AFP/Getty Images



Established by Benchmark Sport International, Beyond Sport aims to promote the use of sport to address social issues in communities around the world through global events, awards schemes and a year-round online network.

Since 2009, Beyond Sport has held major events in London, New York, Chicago, Cape Town, Philadelphia and Johannesburg and claims it has provided over £4 million ($6.8 million/€5 million) worth of support to projects across six continents addressing a range of social issues.

"The Commonwealth is home to more than two billion people from an unimaginably diverse range of backgrounds," said Nick Keller, founder of Beyond Sport.

"Sport is one of the few things that almost all of them have in common and provides a unique platform to drive positive social change.

"Sixty per cent of Commonwealth citizens are under the age of 30 and the way in which those young people interact with each other will have a major effect on the world stage in the years and decades to come."

The Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games is due take place from July 23 to August 3.

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