UcanACT Kick-off Sessions and Implementation in Pilot Territories
The UcanACT project is now moving towards its practical phase of the pilot actions implementation, during which the three pilot territories, Bologna in Italy, Kilkenny in Ireland, and Munich in Germany, engage the project’s target group - people over 50 and with or without cancer experience - in performing physical activity in public urban green spaces available locally.
Before starting the first pilot round action in March and April, each territory ran Kick-off Sessions for physiotherapists and community managers that discussed in detail the Practical Intervention Methodology and Citizens Engagement Strategy to ensure the smooth running of the pilot round.
Bologna was the first pilot territory to hold in-person (with hybrid option available) Kick-off Sessions on 29 January for community managers and on 16 February for physiotherapists. The sessions were organised by AIFI as a follow-up to a training event for physiotherapists at a Consortium meeting held in Bologna in December 2023.
On 11 March, the Kick-off Sessions took place in Kilkenny, organised by the Kilkenny City Council and co-led by Dr Emer Guinan of Trinity College Dublin, a UcanACT collaborator. On 15 March, Outdoor Against Cancer hosted its Kick-off Session in Munich. Both March events were in-person and attended by local physiotherapists, including physiotherapy students, community managers, and the new Europe Region of World Physiotherapy projects manager, Emilia Kosińska, who presented the Citizens Engagement Strategy. The sessions also allowed for an active discussion between the project’s stakeholders on any aspects of the pilot round. The discussions will further inform and impact the first pilot round for a successful implementation.
In Kilkenny, the pilot round action commenced on 14 March and will last ten weeks. The pilot round actions in Bologna and Munich will start in April and continue for nine and ten weeks, respectively.
