EPHEPA European Collaborative Partnership on Sport and HEPA

Insufficient levels of physical activity are prevalent in Europe and represent
an important risk factor for non-communicable diseases.  In most EU countries, institutional and policy frameworks and capacities to promote health-enhancing physical activity (HEPA) are still under development. This results in a lack of specific action plans and implementation strategies as well as in insufficient intersectoral collaboration. EPHEPA aims to fill this gap through:

1. enhanced intersectoral exchange
   across a wider range of key stakeholders and sectors
2. stronger and broader networks to foster sport and
   HEPA promotion across all relevant sectors and in all parts of the EU and
3. a stronger knowledge-base on effective
   policies and approaches to promote HEPA.

EPHEPA will deliver an intersectoral exchange platform on Sport and Health Enhancing Physical Activity, including 2 annual meetings, 2 workshops on practice, challenges and examples on the implementation of the EU Physical Activity guidelines across different sectors and implementation and, importantly, application of a Policy Audit Tool (PAT) in 10-15 countries for more effective national strategies to promote sports and HEPA. The true innovation of the EPHEPA project is a peer-to-peer exchange approach to foster transfer and learning between policy, science and practice to address the challenges and shortcomings of existing policy and promotion approaches in Europe (knowledge network). EPHEPA is centred on strengthening capacities for effective policies for HEPA promotion by leveraging on the unique pool
of knowledge on policy, science and practice provided by the European network for
the promotion of health-enhancing physical activity (HEPA Europe) network, which includes over 130 member institutions from over 30 European countries. EPHEPA work packages are complemented by rigorous quality control and evaluation and
a comprehensive dissemination and exploitation strategy to ensure lasting impact.