- Raise global awareness among the private sector and engage it to find innovative solutions for the challenges faced by people with disabilities.
- Exchange best practices, examples, and strategies to make sports more accessible for all.
- Encourage national and international cooperation among various stakeholders.
- Inspire individuals around the world to actively participate in making the world a more inclusive place.
These were the objectives of the event “1 Billion Voices: Making the Invisible Visible”, organized by The United Nations Division for Inclusive Social Development/Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the NGO United for All Peoples, Manhattan Multicultural Counseling, the Permanent Mission of Monaco and New York City Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities.
It was such an important event for Pirelli to have the honor to represent the private sector because corporate social responsibility is a must for us as an organization.
Actually, the name of the initiative, “Making the Invisible Visible”, reminds us all of something Pirelli does every day: to take something invisible, in this case road safety, and make it visible through the production of tires designed to keep people safe. People often forget that the only point of contact between the car and the road is the tires, and the tires are a tangible, fundamental piece of road safety.
Pirelli is committed to making other invisible things visible as well, through our support of many initiatives around the world dedicated to improving people's lives. Since its incorporation in 1872, Pirelli has always played an active role in developing the communities where our people work and live, investing with them in healthcare, education, social welfare and sports.
In fact, sports were one of the recurring themes during the event at the UN.
There is, indeed, a close link between solidarity and sports, in a virtuous circle where commitment to sports becomes synonymous with the commitment to promoting community and ethics, especially among young people.
To empower this link, Pirelli signed a global agreement not only for the sponsorship of the professional football club FC Internazionale Milano (“Inter”), but also as a partner of the global social project Inter Campus.
Since 1997, Inter Campus has developed flexible and long-term social and cooperation programs in 29 countries around the world with the support of 200 local partners. Inter Campus uses soccer as an educational tool to offer less fortunate boys and girls ages 6 to 13 the right to play.
Since 2008, Inter and Pirelli have been running the Inter Campus social projects in Slatina, Romania; in Silao, Mexico; in Voronezh, Russia; and in the New York neighborhood of Inwood. Pirelli is fully committed to Inter Campus' mission. We are proud to have supported the participation of Julio Gonzalez, Inter Campus Paraguay's Technical Director, at the UN event. Gonzalez spoke about sports and disability, and his own experiences. He was an outstanding player in Italy before losing his left arm as the result of an auto accident in 2005.
With its support of these initiatives, Pirelli is one of the one billion voices. The hope is to build a chorus of solidarity that grows stronger and louder every day.
