Did you know that children growing up in disadvantaged neighborhoods are more likely to lead unhealthy lifestyles than those in more privileged areas? As a result, they are at a higher risk of developing health issues such as type 2 diabetes or obesity. At B-Challenged, our mission is to change that!

Children in these neighborhoods tend to spend less time playing outdoors. Safe and appealing playgrounds are scarce, and unhealthy food is often cheap and easily accessible. Meanwhile, more and more children are spending their time on their phones or computers instead of being active. This needs to change!

The goal of B-Challenged is to encourage children in disadvantaged neighborhoods to spend more time outdoors and adopt healthier eating and drinking habits. To achieve this, we work closely with the children throughout the entire project. We train them to become co-researchers, ensuring that their input is as valuable as that of professional adult researchers. Additionally, we collaborate with adults, including parents, teachers, and municipal employees, to support our efforts.

B-Challenged is carried out in two phases. In the first phase, we will investigate together with the children and adults the main causes of too little outdoor play and unhealthy eating/drinking. In the second phase, we will design and implement actions together with the children and adults that ensure that children in disadvantaged neighbourhoods play more outdoors and eat/drink healthier. B-Challenged is conducted in five countries: the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Spain and Poland.

Would you like to learn more about our results or approach? Please visit our website.