Scoring for Health Holds Webinar for Project Partners
Sport is increasingly attempting to emerge from the long, deep shadow cast by the Covid-19 pandemic. Football, the world’s most popular sport, is back in stadiums and plans are in formulation across the world to get back to a relative sense of normalcy. In Europe, organisations like the European Football for Development Network (EFDN) that use football as a tool for development, are also taking significant steps to resume activities that had been set for the year.
It is against this background that partners in the European Union funded Scoring for Health project gathered for a webinar. The online meeting was held virtually due to existing restrictions as a result of COVID-19. Club Brugge foundation in Belgium were originally set to host this meeting to discuss various components of the project ahead of the first delivery phase. EFDN Project Manager Lewis Walker, the project lead said: “We had a conversation with all the partners about updates, how many people they would be able to reach, when they would be able to start the project based on when schools open.”
The Scoring for Health programme seeks to get children aged between 7 and 14 active with an aim to fighting childhood obesity. Their parents will also be encouraged to adopt a healthy lifestyle and made aware of the value of eating healthily and being active. One of the drivers behind the programme is the recent work by the World Health Organisation, which finds that obesity in children remains an important public health problem in Europe. Childhood obesity is a multi-factor disease associated with a wide range of serious health and social consequences including a higher risk of premature death and disability in adulthood.
Nine partners (eight clubs and one FA) shared updates on various aspects of the project at the online meeting. EFDN, which is coordinating the project, spoke on educational materials, as teachers’ manuals and workbooks. The partners, who will work with approximately 400 children from schools during the project, also discussed monitoring and evaluation including data collection and analysis. Partners also engaged on financial and project reporting; and communication. “It (the project) is also about teaching the kids about the different activities they can do to be creative with physical activity. Let the kids come up with their own activities and put the focus on letting them play outside – situation permitting,” Walker added.
More international meetings will be going ahead to keep members updated and share best practices in Breda (November 2020); Budapest (March 2021); Bremen (November 2021); the final meetings in Randers and Lisbon will be confirmed closer to the time. The following clubs, foundations and leagues are involved in the Scoring for Health EU project:
Aris Limassol FC Social, Environmental, and Health Initiatives
