The 12th edition of the national movement “I’m living healthy, too!” – SETS sets a new record on nationwide coverage

The 12th edition of the national movement “I’m living healthy, too!” – SETS, launched by PRAIS Foundation in partnership with Nestlé Romania, has ended with a record in terms of nationwide coverage. The PRAIS Foundation team has managed to extend the project to 179 cities and localities from 15 counties. Thus, territorial coverage has expanded 8 times more than in 2019, when SETS became part of the Nestlé for Healthier Kids global initiative.

This year, 60,000 pupils from 402 primary schools had free access to fast-learning tools, video educational materials, and information from SETS social media platforms created by the PRAIS Foundation team. Of them, over 20,000 pupils from 224 schools located in 93 urban and rural localities, were involved in all relevant activities, under the coordination of 1,000 teachers.

The 15 counties included on the project’s map are: Argeș, Bacău, Brașov, Botoșani, Buzău, Cluj, Constanța, Dâmbovița, Dolj, Galați, Ilfov, Neamț, Prahova, Timiș and Bucharest.

“After 12 years of implementation, the SETS national movement continues to engage children, teaching staff members, families, and our partners. The most recent results registered improve our confidence in the mission we are dedicated to, namely, to significantly contribute to the development of healthy lifestyle habits, among 6 to 12 years old pupils”, declared Silvia Bucur, President of PRAIS Foundation.

“The goals and the outcomes obtained as part of the SETS national movement are in line with Nestlé for Healthier Kids global initiatives, through which we aim at promoting a healthy lifestyle and well-being for millions of children. To us, educating children from an early age to make healthy choices when it comes to food, to consume fruits and vegetables, to exercise, to play sports, to spend quality time with their families and friends, within the communities where they live, is a priority”, declared Irina Siminenco, Corporate Affairs Manager Nestlé Romania.

The 12^th edition of the SETS movement celebrates a series of program-first events and records set with regard to the implementation and participation in the activities carried out:

• 2 public events organized in partnership with the National Palace of Children in Bucharest, in April and May, in which more than 2,600 children, parents, teachers, and important guests participated;
• 4,758 hours dedicated to SETS extracurricular activities, by members of the teaching staff, between January – June 2023;
• 2,301 open lessons organized by teachers in classrooms, supported by SETS digital guides and videos;
• 15,652 “Healthy and joyful snacks”: a popular activity among pupils, who put their creativity and skillfulness in the kitchen to test, to create dishes rich in vegetables and fruits, an excellent exercise to set knowledge on a balanced diet;
• More than 10,000 drawings – “Stories on water, vegetables and my favorite fruits”: pupils learned about the importance of eating fruits and vegetables, by showing off their talent and imagination at drawing;
• 306 sessions of morning exercises for children “SETS GymClass”: in schools with the participation of more than 5,500 children.

The impact study, conducted at the end of the 12^th edition of SETS, shows that 99,5% of the respondents (teachers) believe that participation in the project activities helped pupils adopt healthy lifestyle habits. Also, 99,8% of members of the teaching staff who took the survey confirmed that the pupils’ parents also appreciated the project’s usefulness, and directly supported the involvement of their children.

Throughout the 12 years since the launch of the SETS movement, more than 400,000 pupils, from preschoolers to 6-graders and their families had free access to SETS-related information and educational activities, with the help of more than 4,000 volunteering members of the teaching staff from 402 schools across the country. The SETS methodologies were recognized as good practices at the international level within EPODE.