Physical activity is essential to health and wellbeing yet in the UK the number of people taking part in regular physical activity has been consistently dropping. Active Gloucestershire is part of a national network of Active Partnerships operating across England. Their goal is to connect and inspire the people of Gloucestershire to get active.

Looking at the data Active Gloucestershire recognised that their strategy of investing in projects and programmes simply wasn’t working. Between 2015 and 2018, levels of inactivity in Gloucestershire had only dropped by 0.7%. National data supported their finding showing that three quarters of Public Health funding was being spent on top-down, short-term interventions with no significant impact.

Based on this insight Active Gloucestershire realised that if they wanted to make change happen, they would need to think differently.

Adopting a systems change approach we actively involved and collaborated with as many of the key actors as possible, especially those with influence on key audiences.

Through the co-design of a movement building strategy and governance structure, we were able to create a health and physical activity movement which was owned and led by local people and communities. 

In 2020 Active Gloustershire launched We Can Move. Growing the movement continues to lie at the heart of Active Gloucestershire’s strategy for getting people active. In 2022 Active Gloucestershire received a grant of £2.8 million from the National Lottery as a direct result of their commitment to co-deliver change and influence positive change throughout their sector, their own networks, and beyond.