BIG – movement as an investment in health
Project to promote physical activity among women in difficult life situations
Goals of BIG
The purpose of BIG is the promotion of health and empowerment of women in difficult life situations and the development of communal structures for health promotion.
Background of BIG
Various barriers often prevent women in difficult life situations from being sufficiently physically active in sports. For this reason, BIG creates low-threshold exercise opportunities.
Development of BIG
The BIG approach was developed in 2005 at the Department of Sports Science and Sport (DSS) of the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU). Since then, the BIG approach has been transferred to various locations and has been continuously further developed.
Looking for new BIG locations
We are looking for communities that are interested in implementing the BIG project under scientific supervision. You can find further information here.
Looking for new BIG locations
We are looking for communities that are interested in implementing the BIG project under scientific supervision. You can find further information here.
Nachuntersuchung des BIG-Projekts (Follow-up of the BIG project)
Since the development of BIG in 2005, the project has been transferred to several locations. At some locations it was possible to establish sustainable structures to promote physical activity for women in difficult life situations. At other locations, insurmountable barriers meant that BIG had to be stopped prematurely. Through NU-BIG we would like to explore
– how BIG is implemented at the individual locations
– the behavioural and relational preventive effect that can be achieved by BIG
– which factors influence the sustainable implementation of the project
In this way we would like to gain insights into the sustainable effects and long-term transfer of BIG.
„Being able to swim and go to the pool or do sports is simply the most normal thing in the world. That is what people think! For me as a Muslim woman it is impossible, because I cannot go swimming in a swimming pool for religious reasons, where the men and women share the pool or do sports together. That was the statement I made about a year ago. Now I say: “Bullshit! I can also do sports and take swimming lessons and go swimming thanks to BIG. I can barely wait every week for the women’s bathing time.“