"It's unique to bring together people from so many different departments to create a common understanding of how to create a physical activity-rich society." Grim Jernudd, from Change the game, is impressed that the City of Mölndal is involving so many people to get more people moving in the municipality.
As one of the pilot municipalities in Make a Move, the City of Mölndal gathered representatives from different administrations to learn about Grim Jernudd's knowledge of physical literacy and how it can be used to create conditions for more movement among the residents of the municipality.
"During these days, employees from different departments such as health and social care, technical, school, culture and leisure are gathered and that is precisely what we believe is the key to change, that we from all different sides make changes in the municipality's activities to create the conditions for more people to dare, be able and want to move." says Julia Hildorzon, Project Manager Make a Move.
Movement-rich environments
Grim Jernudd from Change the Game lectured over two days and started with the theme of movement-rich environments with physical literacy as an approach. The audience had to reflect on what the environments look like today. Are there options for everyone and what are good and less good environments for people to move? Do we involve those who will use the environments when we design them? And not least, how can we create environments that are sustainable from a social, economic and ecological perspective? The audience came away with several concrete suggestions for changes to be made to get more people to dare, want and be able to move around the municipality.
Daniel Forsander and Matilda Karlsson from the after-school program at Brattåsskolan, have been involved as a pilot school in Make a Move during the last school year. After the lecture, they will work even more with involving the children when it comes to the design of the schoolyard and Daniel found a concrete example from the lecture to work on directly. "I would like to continue working with an obstacle course made of materials that we already have, and for the children themselves to be involved in designing and developing it over time." By involving the children in the design, they can feel proud of what they have created and it becomes a place that suits them, where they want to be.
Positive movement experiences
The engaged audience also learned more about positive movement experiences, i.e. how activity leaders can design activities that make the participant have a positive experience of moving and also want to continue moving in different contexts. Grim highlighted concepts such as the spectator effect, self-determination theory and non-linear pedagogy as important elements to have in your leadership. Small changes in how we design activities can make a big difference to the experience of the practitioner, which can pave the way for more people to want to participate and continue to move throughout their lives.
Tina Wall from the Department of Culture and Leisure has changed her approach to movement during her time in the project, which is also reflected in her personal life. "Children have an inner desire to move. Now I let my grandchild jump in all the puddles and I can see the joy bubbling up. It doesn't take that much change to make a difference."
Important guidelines for continued work
In order to really focus on the issue of a mobile society in the municipality, the steering group and project group in the city of Mölndal also met and set important guidelines and activities for the continued work.
By joining forces, the City of Mölndal is creating opportunities for change and, in a positive spirit, we are continuing the work we have begun to create a more active society for the residents of the municipality. Take part of the movie to see when the participants themselves got to try out simple exercises that attract both movement and laughter!
