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The Shape Up Lab: Shape Up continuity and future plans

Shape Up Lab: the context
20% of European children are overweight and the trend is increasing. It is well known that traditional weight loss have limited long-term effects. The failure to respond effectively to the obesity epidemic calls for a broader perspective for public health agendas and also for modified research.

This new initiative, which builds on the Shape Up project includes a strong educational approach in schools and in the community as a whole. These educational interventions aim at influencing the physical and social environment as well as the young people’s learning.

Shape Up is the largest European experimental health education project at the community level developed between 2006 and 2008. It has been effective in developing school-community collaboration and creating youth ownership and innovative learning to influence the determinants of child obesity. It has demonstrated positive effects on local democracy and facilitated local stakeholders to act effectively and achieve long-term changes, has reinforced active learning and innovative curriculum plans and stimulated cross-cultural collaboration.



Shape Up Lab: an open and collaborative platform

The Shape Up Lab fully acknowledges existing international projects dealing with young people and health and aims at establishing close and fruitful links with these. Among others, they include: Schools for Health in Europe (SHE), a continuation of the European Network of Health Promoting Schools.

The Shape Up experimental project was partially built upon the experience and practices of cities involved in the WHO Healthy Cities Network and promoting participatory projects.

The Shape Up Lab will strengthen links with the WHO Healthy Cities Network and other city networks.

It will also enhance the importance of European cross-cultural exchange and favoured school’s partnerships.

It will develop links with the Comenius programme and E-twinning initiative in order to support schools that would like to engage in joint projects dealing with health and healthy habits.

The project was one of initiatives developed at the European level to achieve a healthier living. All these projects share the vision that cooperation between actors across Europe will enhance knowledge and bring new opportunities for actions.

A public-private partnership

Membership of the Shape Up Lab will be open to public, non-profit and private entities. A code of ethics will govern public and private funding.

The public-private partnership in the Shape Up Lab acknowledges the general objective of the European Platform for Diet, Physical Activity and Health that operates under the leadership of the European Commission

Private funding should respond to the principles expressed in the European Charter on Counteracting Obesity adopted at the WHO European Ministerial Conference on Counteracting Obesity (Istanbul, Turkey, 15–17 November 2006).

Any private and public funding in the Shape Up Lab will form part of a philanthropic commitment that will not influence the general objectives or the research and activity programme of the Shape Up Lab and will not take advantage of students in the classroom setting or in the surrounding community. This means that no brands from private funding bodies may feature on school materials and no distribution of products may take place in schools participating in programmes related to the Shape Up Lab.

Contact:
Shape Up Lab
Tel.: +34 933 670 400
shapeuplab@shapeupeurope.net
Summary
Objectives
Background
Methodology
Partnership
Timetable
The 3-year project Shape Up (2006-2008) proposes a new approach to promote a healthy and balanced growing up. It was submitted to the Public Health 2005 call for proposals launched by the European Commission Directorate General for Health and Consumer Affairs.

Shape Up involves the school and community, including families, from the start, jointly with the child. To promote healthy habits requires new ideas to convey a broader vision of the benefits of a balanced diet and regular physical activity, focusing on a positive and critical view of food and body movement:
  • Child participation. Shape Up is not merely about involving children in pre-defined school-based or community-based activities, but also having them decide about the type of activities they want to implement. Participation is also about letting them decide for themselves the types of games, sports and other activities that most appeal to them.
  • School-community collaboration. Shape Up is not only child-centred; it also involves the school and community, including families, from the start, jointly with the child. It provides an opportunity for them all to think and talk about their lifestyles and living conditions and what they can do together to improve them.
  • Research. Shape Up is based on in-depth research, and will form a basis for further investigation. Research linked to the project will help to determine what works within specific contexts, and what is learnt from this experience will inform future health promotion activities.
  • No stigma. Shape Up will focus on a positive and critical view of food and body movement.
  • Capacity building. Shape Up will co-fund the recruitment of two dedicated staff members in each city. These staff members will be responsible for training local community partners and monitoring the project at a city level over its three-year duration. Five European competence centres have joined forces to bring new expertise to the cities.
  • City involvement. Shape Up will provide practical assistance to children in order to bring about changes in the daily life of the city. A Shape Up promoting group will be convened with the support of the city council to assist children, families and schools with the development of initiatives.
  • More resources. Shape Up will provide guidelines, materials and finance for specific health-promoting actions both in and out of school.
  • Measuring success. The Shape Up process, together with its results and achievements, will be evaluated in order to demonstrate the validity of its innovative approach.
  • European collaboration. Cities are not alone, as 26 cities all over Europe are taking part in Shape Up. Imagine the opportunities for new exchanges, twinning, and the discovery of new cultural environments.
  • Spreading the message. Shape Up results will be communicated to all interested cities.

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