Bradford Council will harness the potential of Islamic Religious Settings (IRS) and their communities as levers to tackle the cultural, and structural drivers of ethnic inequalities in childhood obesity in Bradford.
The Childhood Obesity Trailblazer Programme is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care and administered by the Local Government Association. Public Health England also providing expert support and advice.
Bradford Council will harness the potential of Islamic Religious Settings (IRS) and their communities as levers to tackle the cultural, and structural drivers of ethnic inequalities in childhood obesity in Bradford.
Progress
- Further workshop sessions were co-produced with faith settings with emphasis on delivery of physical activity for South Asian and other ethnic minority girls
- Test and learn sessions with place-based groups coproduced through consultative, comprehensive process
- Planning, organisation and delivery of hyper-local obesity prevention plans with faith-based groups delivered with ten place-based groups affiliated with faith settings
- Stakeholder event held in Nov 21 to support robust toolkit quality assurance - key stakeholders attended and the session resulted in wealth of feedback & suggestions on the toolkit content & style along with wider implementation.
- Second behaviour change training session took place on 6th Dec 21, delivered by registered health psychologist, with emphasis on specific behaviour change techniques
- Further workshops sessions planned for April
Learnings
- It has been very valuable to build the capacity of IRSs to deliver their own localised obesity prevention interventions
- Each place-based group will approach and implement childhood obesity prevention plans differently, picking and choosing based on relevance and capacity
- Behaviour change training has been a valuable learning space for Bradford trailblazer team, place based groups and subject matter experts
Challenges
- Different pace of place-based groups; some have continued with high engagement with the trailblazer work and others have found it more difficult due to low volunteer numbers and high covid impact
- Ability to recruit enough IRS settings to take part in model development and piloting phases
Next steps
- Agree date and content for final behaviour change workshop
- Refine toolkit contents based on feedback provided
- Looking for more funding opportunities in the Bradford District to apply and become part of mainstream obesity prevention initiatives
- Finalise toolkit and ensure branding is aligned with Living Well, Bradford’s whole system approach to reducing obesity
- Integrate the trailblazer into Bradford’s childhood obesity plan to support sustainability beyond the end of the project