Erasmus+ youth exchange “NObesity” took place in Msida, Malta on 31st March– 8th of April, 2022. The mobility gathered 36 participants coming from Lithuania, Poland, Malta, Portugal, Hungary, & Turkey. The goal was to tackle obesity and unhealthy lifestyle problems by 1) raising awareness of the issue and 2) encouraging active participation of young people.
INSPIRATION OF THE PROJECT
WHO expresses how obesity has reached epidemic proportions globally, where in the EU a minimum of 2.8 million people lose their lives as a result of being obese or overweight every year.
Additionally, the EU Action Plan on Childhood Obesity 2014-2020, also states that approximately 7% of national health budgets in the European Union are spent on diseases which are associated with obesity.
The latter indicator does not include considerable indirect costs resulting in lost productivity at the workplace due to workers’ health complications and premature death.
ADVANCED PLANNING VISIT (APV)
Key people from each country came to the APV and made suggestions on how to carry out the project successfully. This included planned activities, mentoring and support for the participants, rules to be followed, working with young people who don’t have as many opportunities, and getting the word out about the results.
The youth who took part in APV had to do the same things, such as: (1) get ready to lead the activities themselves, or (2) come up with new activities to do during the YE.
OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT
PROJECT’S ACTIVITIES
DISSEMINATION
PROJECT’S IMPACT
The participants acquired a number of skills and competencies required to follow a healthy lifestyle. They learned about the current obesity situation and its prevalence in Europe. They also learned the ways to fight obesity and unhealthy lifestyle by exchanging good practices and experience. As participants learned about existing obesity problems around Europe, the reasons behind the issue and the ways to tackle it – they became more self-aware of the situation.
Moreover, the participating organisations also had an impact. Each of them learned new good healthy lifestyle practices that they can implement in their local setting. They also learned how to train youth on following a healthy lifestyle through new non-formal education methods. Most importantly, they created strong bonds between themselves due to active good practice sharing.
PROJECT’S SCHEDULE, ACTIVITIES AND MATERIAL
