World Active, the first ever global federation for the health, fitness and physical activity sector, has reached its second phase! Almost 50 national federation representatives from 5 continents met at the 1st World Active General Assembly on 13th April 2023 during FIBO Global Fitness in Cologne, Germany. Based on the agreed Charter, they elected the World Active Council, 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 involved, Mr. 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 fitness industry: “We are ready to become a partner of WHO and other world 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”.
The World Active General Assembly and Council elections are based on the provisions of the World Active Charter, the main constitutive document transparently approved by the founding members. In line with our 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 other health and fitness associations and professional registers to join World Active.
The main event of the platform, the World Active Summit on Friday 14 April 2023, will commence in Europe and rotate through the continents annualy. 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. During the Summit opening, those World Active ambitious goals were supported by Mrs. Fiona Bull, the WHO Europe representative: „We fully support 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 will present their work from summer 2022, as well as short and long-term plans for their respective focus areas.
Africa is in new World Active platform, as well as the World Active Council represented by Mr. Wilson Onyango from 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, Mrs. 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 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. Mr. Rogelio Castrellón adds: “ACAD BRASIL is very honoured to be part of the World Active community and to contribute to have 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. Mrs. Amy Boone Thomson 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 Mr. Samir Kapoor and Mr. Sean Tan from Singapore Fitness Alliance, they both expressed their enthusiasm for the new global initiative: „WAF was a the 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 a 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 has been represented mainly by Mr. Richard Beddie, Exercise New Zealand CEO and the Interim World Active Chair and AUSactive CEO Mr. 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”.
European continent is represented by the only continental health and fitness association so far, the EuropeActive and 29 European national federation members. The EuropeActive CEO, Mr. 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 [email protected].
