International students to get 25 associations and UN City in Copenhagen to #BeActive

22/09/2017

The Ollerup Academy of Physical Education on the island of Funen in Denmark is combining an “activation” and “experimentation” approach for the European Week of Sport next week. The students expect to engage 25 associations on Funen and the Faroe Islands, and up to 1500 employees at the UN City headquarters in Copenhagen with #BeActive pop-up workplace activities.

The students are using a networking approach to spread #BeActive activities out to municipalities, elderly homes, kindergartens, sport clubs and other associations in Ollerup, Svendborg, Faaborg and the Faroe Islands from 23-30 September. Their plan is to match one student with each association, and this student would brief the association on the activities it will deliver during the week. Then it is up to the association to deliver the activity on the day.

The students are prompting the associations to share photos and videos of their activities on social media using the #BeActive hashtag, particularly on Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat.

Cristiane Fiorin-Fuglsang, from the Ollerup Academy’s international department, says that the students are keen to test new ways of tackling project development. She says that pan-European activities like the European Week of Sport and the NowWeMOVE campaign’s MOVE Week are perfect opportunities to roll out new ideas and establish new connections.

“We started our partnership with the local elderly home through MOVE Week and we try to maintain the connection to encourage them to keep being active. We get a lot of benefits from the proximity we have to each other. So we’re trying this year to see how far we can reach,” she says.

Last year the Ollerup students made a “wave” of pop-up activities around Copenhagen for the European Week of Sport. This year 60 students are also being allowed to enter the UN City headquarters in Copenhagen to deliver office activities to the staff during their lunch break on 27 September.

The types of activities organised at the associations on Funen and at UN City will vary, and they will draw inspiration from the students’ own expertise.

“We use the social capital among our students to create the activities,” Fiorin-Fuglsang says. “We hope that we’ll make the participants to discover new opportunities in their communities to BeActive.”