06 Nov Children in the City Project Resources
The Children in the City campaign, was a programme coordinated by the World Heart Federation (WHF) in partnership with UEFA, which aimed to improve access to and emphasise the importance of physical activity in children living in low-income urban neighbourhoods.
Physical inactivity is one of the main modifiable risk factors for cardiovascular disease and setting healthy habits early in life is essential to staying healthy throughout the life course. By encouraging children and young people to have fun playing sports, including football, the project hoped to instill an active culture amongst the next generation and reduce sedentary time.
Healthy Stadia was involved with the Children in the City project for Romania, which was one of five pilot programmes in cities across five European countries. Each pilot aimed to address the main barriers to physical activity in their specific area. These were identified by engaging with children and parents as well as through partnership working and research. Based on the survey data collected, a number of simple, cost-effective and easily replicable interventions were designed to address those barriers, and then piloted and evaluated in each country.
The Romanian pilot, implemented by the Romanian Heart Foundation (RHF), saw the development of a bespoke toolkit which offers key information on the importance of maintaining physically active lifestyles amongst children in Romania, with specific focus on both girls and boys aged 7 – 12 years old, especially those who are less active.
Advocating for physical activity
The data and experience collected represents an opportunity for national partners and civil society organisations to reach out to their local authorities and advocate for better infrastructures and policies encouraging physical activity in children. WHF has now made the Children in the City portfolio of cost-effective intervention available for all and hope the best practices and case studies will encourage other to emulate their programmes.
For more information about Children in the City and to access case studies and examples of best practice, click here.
