Our journey so far

As we emerged from the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, two key factors became clear. Firstly, there was a unique window of opportunity to build on the collaborations, partnerships and support networks that emerged during the crisis. If we work collectively going forwards, we can make a real difference to Oxfordshire's health and wellbeing.

Secondly, we need to harness the power of physical activity to tackle Oxfordshire's most pressing health and social issues. We all know that moving more is good for our physical and our mental health, but existing health inequalities mean that far too many people don't have the opportunities they deserve to live an active life.

There is already a superb amount of fantastic work going on across the county to help people in most need to move more. But following on from the pandemic, it was clear that we could strengthen the way we work together towards collectively agreed ambitions - and by doing so create a clear way forward to make the biggest difference.

From the outset, it was vital that Oxfordshire on the Move was genuinely co-owned and not dictated by any one organisation or mindset.

We've held discussions, workshops and events with 90 organisations and 162 individuals throughout 2022, including online consultation workshops and a major event at The Story Museum in October 2022.

Out of these discussions, we've been able to see the extent of the superb work already taking place to fight inactivity which we can build upon going forwards. We've been able to listen and better understand the complex barriers faced to activity, including from our Active Ambassadors and other groups with lived experience. And together, we've come up with four collective ambitions that we can start to work towards, through a social movement known as Oxfordshire on the Move.

We've held further consultations for each of our four ambitions, working together with partners to discuss the key priority areas that we want to focus on, where we want to be in two years' time and what actions we can start to take together.

We've developed an Evaluation Framework so that we can measure the difference that our ambitions are making on the ground, and also the difference that Oxfordshire on the Move is making at a more strategic level by better connecting systems together.

We launched Oxfordshire on the Move on 8th February as a new social movement convening 90 partners across 11 different sectors. This means that we have county and district councils, healthcare providers, schools, businesses, charities, community organisations and residents coming together to take action.

If you would like to join us in increasing activity levels where its needed most and addressing significant health inequalities, we'd love to hear from you.