Partner Opportunities and Examples of Our Collaborative Work

Partnerships underpin everything we do at Active Devon and exploring partner opportunities is vital to achieving our ambitions. Far more impact is possible if we work together and here are some great examples of how we are doing just that.

The Importance of Movement for All

From childhood to later life, the benefits of being active are life-changing and deliver significant societal value. Movement can have profound benefits for our physical health, but it also has the power to do so much more. It is good for our mental wellbeing, connects and strengthens communities, and has huge economic value.

Much of our work is about discovering common purpose with partners who are also trying to drive social change, tackle inequalities or improve quality of life in Devon’s communities. It is about finding alignment across strategies and agendas, whether or not they are primarily about movement and physical activity. This collaborative intent is reflected locally in the Devon Moving Together strategy and nationally in Sport England’s Uniting the Movement strategy.

Building Relationships at All Levels is Vital

Partners often say that as well as our knowledge and expertise, our unique strength is the breadth of trusted relationships we have across numerous local communities, networks and systems. We are proud of our track-record of driving systemic change through strategic partnerships. Plus, delivering on community-led approaches towards enabling people to get involved.

Building relationships at all levels to secure wider local alignment and commitment to social change is key to success. Whether your organisation does this by promoting physical activity, or by another route, we’d love to connect with you. We can discuss and explore how we can work together for a healthier, connected and more prosperous Devon.

Practical Examples of Our Partnership Work

Here are some practical examples of our partnership working in action across various themes of our work. Click on the links if you want to learn about a particular theme:

Movement in Later Life

Within our Later Life strategy theme, we partner with the Devon Local Nature Partnership, running the annual Naturally Healthy Campaign and delivering an extensive range of community-based activities to unlock the dual benefit of being in nature and being active.

Go to our Movement in Later Life page to find out more about our work to support active and healthy ageing.

Movement for Health and Wellbeing

Our Health & Well Being theme has a continually growing partnership with the NHS in Devon. An example would be working with One Northern Devon and the Local Care Partnership to embed physical activity in local strategy whilst opening more opportunities for local people to become active.

Go to our Movement for Health and Wellbeing page to find out more about how we are collaborating with health, care and local authority partners.

Movement in Early Life

We partner with many organisations, including schools and academy trusts in support of our Early Life theme. In particular, we deliver the Opening Schools Facilities programme to enable greater community access to physical activity and sport on school sites. In Plymouth we work with the City Council and other partners, leading on Plymouth Pathfinder, a Trauma Informed Approach to supporting local young people through sport and physical activity.

Go to our Movement in Early Life page to find out more about how we are working with and supporting organisations who are helping children and young people to be active for life.

Movement with Communities

The Communities strategy theme is underpinned by developing networks of place-based partnerships with local organisations. In Torbay we have used these networks to support people’s mental wellbeing through physical activity. We have also developed new networks to help find solutions to challenges being faced in communities. Examples include supporting Devon’s community run swimming pools through the energy crisis and helping refugee and asylum seeker communities to access the benefits of being physically active.

Go to our Movement with Communities page to find out more.

Everyday Movement

Within the Everyday Movement theme of our work, we promote simple, accessible ways to help anyone to be active. The theme also has a focus on reducing our negative impact on the environment. Our long-standing partnership with Devon County Council has a focus on promoting active travel. It has involved various approaches from digital campaigns and challenges, community festivals and delivering cycling confidence sessions of adults.

What Does Partnering with Us Look Like?

Our partnerships all look quite different because we work with you to understand your needs and agree how we can best work together. This may involve leading work on your behalf, or providing specific insight or expertise as part of a strategy or initiative you are leading. Or it could involve us delivering a specific project or programme.

Members of our values-driven team focus on empowering and enabling others. You will commonly experience a commitment to co-design and a real emphasis on how we can build capacity and unlock the value of our wider network.  We don’t have a team of coaches or instructors at Active Devon because we typically use other organisations or experts to deliver activities themselves.

Get in Touch

 If you think physical activity can help you deliver your outcomes for a healthier, connected and economically mobile Devon why not get in touch?

You can do this by connecting with the appropriate strategy lead through our Meet the Team page or why not drop us a line on partnerwithus@activedevon.org.