The Approach

The Inspiring an Active Jersey Strategy is a “whole system” approach that has been developed to ensure that access to sport and active living is fair and equitable and “physically active” is established as the cultural norm. The Government of Jersey commissioned Jersey Sport, as their the arms length body for sport and active living, to develop this Government Strategy that mission is to tackle inactivity across the whole population.

Responsibility for delivering outcomes and ambitions will be clearly defined in each four-year period. Physical inactivity is a critical issue that needs to be addressed; its solution requires a bigger response and focus than any single government department or single entity can possibly provide. It is a social issue that truly spans all government departments, the private and volunteer and community sectors and thus the strategy is set out to be a framework that guides the work of multiple agencies, prioritising and directing effort against a single vision.

The Social-Ecological Model of Physical Activity Behaviour below demonstrates the influence of Government policy and programmes, neighbourhood variables and individual demographic and psychological factors on islander’s propensity to be active. It is clear from this diagram that improvements in all five key priorities of the Common Strategic Policy will support social-economic factor improvements, which in turn, will close the equality gap that exists and impact islanders’ ability and circumstances to get active. Inspiring an Active Jersey is a critical delivery strategy which will help the Government of Jersey achieve its strategic priorities but the model shows clearly the interrelation with other social factors which impact people’s motivation and ability to be active.

Inspiring and Active Jersey is a 10-year framework that identifies the key themes, outcomes and ambitions that collectively create the culture and environmental conditions that allow islanders to enjoy the health benefits and quality of life that comes from being regularly active.

The Inspiring an Active Jersey strategy has been constructed around three key themes, each of which have a series of outcomes and ambitions. The strategy is a ‘live’ document and therefore has been constructed in a way which is flexible and allows for change throughout the life-cycle of this plan.

The Inspiring an Active Jersey Strategy’s principal form will be this website which has the distinct advantage of allowing changes to be made and data to be added as required. Over time the website will grow to report on impact and the measures used to chart progress. It will also be developed to show the specific actions prioritised in each four-year period.