Our This Girl Can campaign has teamed up with Our Parks to produce a new report on their Couch to Fitness programme.
‘Inspiring more inclusive physical activity interventions’ presents the learnings from the free nine-week exercise programme aimed at beginners, which was funded by us and built on the insight of This Girl Can (TGC) into the deep-rooted inequalities that persist in sport and physical activity.
It’s useful for anyone interested in creating ways to help underserved communities engage in sport and physical activity.
TGC worked with to develop the programme, which helps people build confidence in their ability to be active from the safety and comfort of their own home, with workouts available online and on demand.
The new report outlines everything they’ve learned and includes practical and creative ideas for building and promoting a digital offer for underserved communities.
The project was designed specifically to reach culturally diverse and lower socio-economic groups, who both had a greater increase in inactivity than White audiences during the Covid-19 lockdowns.
Born Barikor, founder of Our Parks, said: "Couch to Fitness has been a game-changer for our mission to make physical activity accessible to everyone, allowing us to remove more of the barriers that stop people getting started.
"This report highlights our journey in creating a digital intervention that truly resonates with those who need it most.
"By putting our users at the heart of everything we do, we’ve been able to build a programme that not only helps them take the first steps to be more active but also fosters a sense of community and belonging.
"We hope this report encourages others to explore similar strategies and helps to close the gap in access and opportunity for underserved communities."
Whether you work in directly in sport and physical activity, the charity or voluntary sector, healthcare or marketing, you can read tips in areas such as digital product development, community building and targeted marketing.
Although we can't guarantee success from using the suggestions in this report, we hope they spark conversations and creativity into how they might work for organisations developing their own interventions.
As well as reading the report, you can join a webinar session. Our Parks are running several dates across September and October sharing more about the findings.
