New physical activity campaign to get Dunedin people moving
Friday 6 May 2011, 9:17AM
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MoveMe, being launched in Dunedin this month, aims to increase Dunedin people’s awareness of, and participation in, physical activity.
MoveMe is a Getting Dunedin Active initiative involving many project partners with major sponsorship from the Dunedin City Council.
Getting Dunedin Active hopes to significantly increase the number of people in Dunedin leading active, healthy and enjoyable lives through the MoveMe campaign, which will consist of city-wide promotions, events and the new website www.moveme.org.nz.
The MoveMe website includes simple tips to help Dunedin people make physical activity an enjoyable part of their life. It is free to become a member on the site and once you sign up you can access tools, helpful hints and advice designed to get people moving more and enjoying it. The site also includes walking and cycling maps of Dunedin, nutrition information, advice for people getting started in activity and much more.
As part of the launch, MoveMe, in partnership with MoreFM, has organised a Mother’s Day Walk on Sunday, 8 May, around the Dunedin Botanic Garden. The walk will take approximately 30 minutes and will enable people to enjoy the Garden while being active. The event is for the whole family and is suitable for buggies and wheelchairs. The first 100 mums at the event will receive a goodie bag kindly donated by Arthur Barnett. People interested in participating in the walk must meet at the Bandstand in the Lower Garden at 10am.
Background
'Getting Dunedin Active' (GDA), Dunedin’s Physical Activity Strategy (2008) was developed by and is owned and implemented by a representative cross section of the city's physical activity-related agencies with the vision: "All Dunedin residents living active, healthy and enjoyable lifestyles".
The partners are the Dunedin City Council, Sport Otago, Public Health South, Otakou Runanga Pacific Trust, Otago Southern District Health Board, University of Otago School of Physical Education, Unipol Recreation Centre, Dunedin Secondary Schools Association, Otago Secondary Schools Sports Association, Otago Primary Principals Association, Dunedin Kindergarten Association and Special Olympics Otago.
During the strategy's research and development phase, it quickly became evident that Dunedin people had a little awareness of and understanding about physical activity resources, opportunities, and providers at either city or neighbourhood level. These factors were identified as significant barriers to people’s potential to participate in physical activity.
GDA partners have collaborated to address this issue, by developing the comprehensive and city-wide promotional campaign, MoveMe, to increase Dunedin people’s awareness of and participation in physical activity. The campaign’s primary target group is young adults (from 25 years old) through to older adults who aren’t regularly active, but have the intention of becoming more active.