World Active becomes a reality!
More than 40 organisations from 5 continents elected the Council!
Barrie Elvish, as Chair, will lead the platform to the final phase – the launch of the World Active Federation!
World Active, the global platform for the fitness and physical activity sector, has reached its second phase! Almost 50 organisation representatives gathered within the first World Active General Assembly on 13th and 14th April 2023 during FIBO Global Fitness in Cologne, Germany. Based on the approved Charter, they elected the World Active Council members, which will lead this unique global platform into the third and final phase – the launch of the World Active Federation.
Speaking on behalf of all those involved, Barrie Elvish, the elected World Active Chair, described this first physical meeting of the founding members as a very special event in the global history of the industry: “We are ready to become a partner of the World Health Organisation and other international organisations! Our mission is ‘more people, more active, more often’. Regular physical activity is proven to be a public health solution and we are ready to contribute to improving the health of the entire population”. To achieve these goals, Barrie Elvish will work closely with Amy Boone Thompson, World Active’s Vice-Chair, and Sean Tan, the platform’s Treasurer.
The World Active Council elections are based on the provisions of the World Active Charter, the main constitutive document transparently approved by the founding members. The Council is composed of Wilson Onyango (African Register of Exercise Professionals) representing Africa, Samir Kapoor (India Active) and Sean Tan (Singapore Fitness Alliance), representing Asia, Monica Marques (ACAD Brazil), representing Central and Latin America, Andreas Paulsen (EuropeActive), representing Europe, Amy Boone Thompson (IDEA Health & Fitness Association), representing North America, and Barrie Elvish (AUSactive), representing Oceania.
In line with the guiding principle of having an independent platform where each stakeholder has equal weight and rights, this leads to equal representation of all continents. At the same time, it opens the door for organisations from the sector to join World Active.
The main event of the platform, the World Active Summit, will be organised annually and will rotate between all continents. It will bring together stakeholders from around the globe to discuss common opportunities and challenges facing the industry, to speak with one voice, and to promote health and well-being worldwide through collaboration and innovation.
These ambitious goals were voiced by Fiona Bull, the Head of the Physical Activity Unit within the Department of Health Promotion at the World Health Organization: „We fully support the development of World Active and look forward to working collaboratively to get more people, more active, more often by implementing strategies that underline the Global action plan on physical activity“.
The next commonly agreed document to be launched during the Summit is the World Active Manifesto 2023, which outlines all of the key goals, visions and principles for future cooperation. As a part of the programme, the chairs of World Active’s working groups presented a framework that was agreed on in the last year, as well as short and long-term plans for their respective focus areas.
Africa is in the new World Active platform, as well as the World Active Council represented by Wilson Onyango from the African Register of Exercise Professionals. He expressed their enthusiasm for the new global initiative: The establishment of this kind of organisation has been long overdue. Non-existence of a platform to voice the challenges had made Africa a forgotten continent. We have been yearning for this. It’s obvious Africa’s fitness and physical activity sector’s future is brighter with World Active.
Central and Latin America is represented by ACAD Brazil, whose representative, Monica Marques expressed their enthusiasm for the new global initiative: „In 2018, WHO research showed that Brazil was among the five most sedentary countries in the world. Since then, ACAD BRASIL has created the Brasil+Ativo project and campaign, both designed to raise consciousness about the benefits of physical activity and to fight the barriers that make exercising more expensive or difficult for the population to access.
Rogelio Castrellón adds: “ACAD BRASIL is very honoured to be part of the World Active community and to contribute to having more people in the world, exercising everywhere, everyday!“
The North America is currently represented by four leading bodies – the American Council on Exercise, Fitness Business Association, IDEA Health and Fitness Association and Medical Fitness Association. Amy Boone Thompson expressed her enthusiasm for the global initiative: “The North American sector is proud to partner with World Active, whereby all groups involved share a common goal to empower professionals and businesses and enhance well-being worldwide while providing further support for the global impact that health, fitness and physical activity play in improving individual and population health.”
The Asian continent has been represented mainly by the India Active President Samir Kapoor and Sean Tan from Singapore Fitness Alliance. They both expressed their enthusiasm for the new global initiative: „WAF was a need of the hour for the Fitness Sector and after 9 months of coordinated effort across continents we have a body that would help the fitness industry evolve faster by sharing best practices with countries across the world. Asia will tremendously benefit from this as smoother interoperability between multiple fitness associations will go a long way for us in adapting to the best practices we deem fit.“
Australia and Oceania have been represented mainly by Richard Beddie, Exercise New Zealand CEO, and AUSactive’s CEO Barrie Elvish, who expressed enthusiasm for the new global indicative: “AUSactive is a founding member of World Active and I was honoured to be appointed as the association’s interim Chair. We believe World Active will support its members through international collaboration, research, advocacy, and credibility. By leveraging the skills and experiences each member brings, World Active will be a potent international driver for achieving the acknowledgement of the role our sector plays in the world’s preventative health environment.”
Richard Beddie adds: “Exercise New Zealand is very pleased to support World Active and its global collaboration efforts”.
The European continent is represented by the only continental health and fitness association so far, EuropeActive and 29 European national federation members. EuropeActive’s CEO, Andreas Paulsen, expressed their enthusiasm for the new global initiative: ”Since 2020 it has been part of EuropeActive s strategic ambitions to finally establish global representation for our fantastic industry. At the EHFF last year we announced that we would reach out to partner associations around the world to formally build our industry’s global federation. Today, exactly one year later, with industry representatives from all over the world, we took the historical founding steps to formally launch World Active”.
For more information, please visit www.world-active.com or contact thesecretariat@worldactive.com
