The core business of CBO BV is to develop, implement and review quality in health care. CBO has taken over the work of the Netherlands Institute for Health Promotion (NIGZ) which focuses on supporting health promotion practice. In CBO 8 health promotion specialists are working in the area of school health, health for vulnerable groups and healthy ageing. CBO NIGZ is active in (action) research, innovation and development of health promotion. CBO NIGZ is a respected partner in many European (research) projects, funded by DG Sanco, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion and by the FP7 programme. CBO NIGZ is inspired by the Ottawa Chart for Health Promotion, in which health promotion is described as "the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health". CBO NIGZ hosts the management of the Schools for Health in Europe (SHE) network.

The SHE network focuses on making school health promotion an integral part of policy development in the health and education sector in EU member states. The network encourages each member country to develop and implement a national policy on school health promotion, building on the experiences within the country, within Europe and globally. A "health promoting school" is a school that implements a structured and systematic plan for the health, well-being and the development of social capital of all pupils and of teaching and non-teaching staff. The whole school environment is viewed as an important area for promotion of health and for learning about health.

The members of the SHE network use a positive concept of health and well-being and acknowledge the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. They recognize the whole school approach to health and active participation of all members of the school community. Health promoting schools support schools in achieving their educational and social goals. Healthy students learn better, healthy teachers work better. They are active agents in all EU member states for strengthening social capital and health literacy.


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The core business of CBO BV is to develop, implement and review health promotion and quality in health care. CBO is active in (action) research, innovation and development of health promotion and health care. CBO is a respected partner in many European (research) projects, funded by DG Sanco, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion and by the FP7 programme. CBO is inspired by the Ottawa Chart for Health Promotion, in which health promotion is described as ‘the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health’. CBO holds the management of the Schools for Health in Europe (SHE) network.
The SHE network focuses on making school health promotion an integral part of policy development in the health and education sector in EU member states. The network encourages each member country to develop and implement a national policy on school health promotion, building on the experiences within the country, within Europe and globally. A ‘health promoting school’ is a school that implements a structured and systematic plan for the health, well-being and the development of social capital of all pupils and of teaching and non-teaching staff. The whole school environment is viewed as an important area for promotion of health and for learning about health. The health promoting school approach consists of six components: healthy school policies, school`s physical environment, school`s social environment, individual health skills and action competencies, community links and health services.
The members of the SHE network use a positive concept of health and well-being and acknowledge the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. They recognize the whole school approach to health and active participation of all members of the school community. Health promoting schools support schools in achieving their educational and social goals. Healthy students learn better, healthy teachers work better. They are active agents in all EU member states for strengthening social capital and health literacy.

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By the end of 2016, the OPEN project aims to strengthen the methodology of Community Based Programmes (CBPs), Initiatives (CBIs) or Public Organizations, willing to implement sustainable strategies and actions to prevent obesity at local and national level.
The project will scale-up and increase capacity of the Coordination Teams (CTs) in terms of scope of action, design, implementation and evaluation methods.
The objective is also to support the CTs in widening their target groups scope, including adolescents living in deprived areas.

Increasing the CTs capacity and skills, the project will facilitate and accelerate behavior and environmental change to reduce overweight and obesity-related diseases among European children and adolescents.

To date, 11 CTs in 16 countries (PHC-Belgium, UGENT-Cyprus, UGENT-Estonia, CCFL-France, UGENT-Germany, NOSTUS-Greece, UGENT-Hungary, UGENT-Italy, MHEC-Malta, CGG-Netherlands, PFPZ ZP-Poland, CEIDESS-Portugal, PRAIS-Romania, OZ PZND-Slovakia, ALE-Spain, UGENT-Sweden) are part of the consortium.

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The aim of the Schools for Health in Europe (SHE) network is to improve the health of children and young people in Europe, including reducing health inequalities, through a specific setting focus on schools. The network supports its members to further develop and sustain school health promotion by providing a European platform for school health promotion.
For 2015-2017 4 specific objectives are formulated. By the end of 2017:
• the functioning of national and regional health promoting school networks and the implementation of health promoting schools has been supported by sharing good practices, expertise and skills;
• the professional development of SHE network members and other stakeholders has been supported by the delivery of the SHE support programme;
• the visibility and access to evidence based information on school health promotion has increased by the delivery of publications and presentations;
• the dissemination of school health promotion research findings and innovative research consortia has been promoted.
Methods to achieve these objectives are: organising annual meetings and capacity building workshops. Maintaining SHE website, helpdesk, share information through newsletters and social media and by encouraging regional and cross-border cooperation. Developing online school twinning tool and the SHE online school manual. Developing an e-learning tool, organising a summer school, support publications and consultancy visits. Making SHE leaflets, factsheets, an online glossary and by representing the network at international conferences.
The health of children and young people are and will be a key priority for the European Commission. The activities in the network relate directly to the first overall objective of the third programme of community action in the field of health (2014-2020) and thematic priorities 1.1 till 1.4 are high priority issues in school programmes and settings. The SHE network encourages a whole school approach to these priorities.
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The World Obesity Federation is a registered charity based in England with professional member organisations in 21 EU and 5 other European countries. Although our work addresses issues beyond the European Region, in this FPA and SGA, we seek support only for our European-focused activities which are directly relevant to the Community’s 3rd Health Programme.

In this respect our general objectives are (i) to ensure overweight people in Europe receive the best available support for weight management and prevention of comorbid disease, (ii) to reduce obesity prevalence in European populations through prevention strategies, and (iii) to take due account of socio-demographic inequalities in the use of health services and in response to prevention initiatives.

To fulfil these objectives, we offer web-based training for professional obesity treatment and weight management, which will be provided by recognised experts and available to practitioners across the Community’s health services. We also provide data and policy dissemination activities for the development of obesity prevention strategies in the European region.

Our work programme 2015-2017 includes expanding our web-based training programme for health professionals and translating modules into European languages, developing a data portal for adult and child prevalence statistics in the region, and updating and extending our mapping service of European policy and community intervention activities.

These activities are relevant to the 3rd Health Programme’s specific objective 1 for cost-effective disease prevention (especially to identify, disseminate and promote evidence-based and good practices for cost-effective disease prevention and health promotion), and specific objective 3 for building health systems (especially to address shortage of resources, develop cross-border expertise and facilitate innovation in public health interventions and prevention strategies).

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