Fit4Future is an Erasmus+ project that focuses on stimulating a healthy lifestyle for adults in both Amsterdam Nieuw-West and Tuzla (Istanbul). One thing is central to this project: making health accessible to everyone, regardless of background or level of education. Unfortunately it is a fact that the problem of unhealthy living and an unhealthy lifestyle is becoming a big issue.

In many neighbourhoods, we see that people – especially parents, women and people with a migration background who do not always receive the right support when it comes to healthy eating, exercise and making conscious choices. Fit4Future responds to this by developing practical and recognizable learning activities that connect to the daily life of the target group.

What makes this project unique is the way it works. No complicated theory, but doing, experiencing and learning together. Think of workshops on healthy nutrition, exercise in the neighbourhood and making small, feasible changes in daily life. These activities are being tested and further developed in both the Netherlands and Turkey, so that they really connect with the people for whom they are intended.

In addition, a train-the-trainer approach is used. Local trainers and key figures, often mothers from the neighbourhood, are trained to pass on this knowledge within their own network. In this way, the reach of the project grows in a natural and sustainable way.

The collaboration between Amsterdam Nieuw-West and Tuzla ensures a valuable exchange of knowledge, culture and approaches. Through this international collaboration within the Erasmus+ programme, ideas are strengthened and further developed, with the aim of reaching and supporting as many people as possible in a healthier lifestyle. Fit4Future is therefore more than a project. It is a movement towards a healthier, more conscious and more connected society.

Instead of just talking about healthy food, it is experienced, made and shared. Residents cook together, learn from each other’s kitchens and discover how healthy choices are also possible within their own culture.

This makes the neighborhood restaurant a powerful place where:

• Awareness arises around nutrition 
• behavioural change takes place in a natural way 
• social cohesion is strengthened 

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The Beach is a social organization in Amsterdam Nieuw-West that focuses on strengthening communities through co-creation, participation and design. Based on a strong local anchoring, The Beach works together with residents, volunteers, professionals and partners on solutions that are in line with everyday practice.

The strength of The Beach lies in reaching target groups that do not automatically participate in educational or health programs. This includes women, parents, people in a vulnerable socio-economic position and residents who are less likely to have access to formal facilities.

Within Fit4Future, The Beach plays a central role as a link between project and practice. The developed lessons, workshops and materials are immediately tested in the neighborhood, together with the target group. Based on these experiences, they are adapted and improved.

In addition, The Beach works from the idea that meeting is essential. Creating safe and accessible neighbourhood places where people feel welcome is an important condition for enabling behavioural change. In a neighborhood where loneliness and stress are relatively common, this is not an afterthought but a precondition for success. 

This approach not only creates a project, but a sustainable movement in which residents themselves become co-owners of their health and lifestyle.

The Erasmus+ project Fit4Future was developed from the conviction that an effective approach to health and lifestyle only works when it is in line with people’s own world. Standard interventions are often insufficient for target groups such as parents, women, people with a migration background and residents with a lower socio-economic position.

Within this project, a conscious choice is therefore made for a practical, accessible and culturally sensitive approach, in which:

• Healthy eating is approached from different cultures and cuisines 
• Exercise is linked to daily life and the neighbourhood 
• Knowledge is shared through accessible workshops and training courses 
• participants actively think along and participate in the development of lessons 

An important starting point is that Amsterdam, and especially Nieuw-West, is a place where different cultures come together. This means that there is no one way to look at healthy food and lifestyle. By working together with partner municipality Tuzla (Istanbul), a broader view of health, nutrition and behavior is created.

Thanks to funding from the Erasmus+ programme, it will be possible to shape this international cooperation. The project offers space to exchange knowledge, learn from each other and develop new methodologies that can be applied in both the Netherlands and Turkey. It is precisely this international dimension that provides depth: we not only look at what works in the Netherlands, but also at what we can learn from other cultures and systems.

Neighborhood restaurant Wilde Chef 

https://www.thebeach.nu/nl/page/6943/wilde-chefs

An important part of The Beach’s approach is the collaboration with initiatives such as the Wilde Chefs neighborhood restaurant.

Within this concept, different worlds come together:

• Cooking and eating as a connecting factor 
• Learning about healthy food in practice 
• Meeting between different cultures 
• active participation of residents