HL4EU Enters Its Final Stretch: Strengthening Collaboration for Physical Activity in Europe

The Healthy Lifestyles for Europe (HL4EU) project has officially entered its third and final year. Since its launch in January 2024, the consortium has been working to address an important and ongoing issue in Europe: promoting healthy lifestyles through physical activity in a policy landscape that is fragmented, complex, and often siloed.

One of HL4EU’s flagship achievements to date is the Cross-Sectoral Good Practice Library. This growing collection brings together concrete examples of successful cross-sector collaboration from across Europe and beyond. Designed as a one-stop shop for policymakers and stakeholders, the platform aims to showcase positive examples, connect like-minded actors, and help turn inspiration into action. At a time when physical activity policy cuts across health, sport, urban development, transport, and active mobility, such shared learning is increasingly important.

Unlike many other policy areas, physical activity does not sit neatly within a single competence. The result is a highly fragmented ecosystem, where alignment between EU and national levels - and across sectors - can be difficult to achieve. If there is one field that truly demands cross-sector collaboration, it is this one. HL4EU’s work responds directly to that reality, making the project both timely and highly relevant.

From Good Practices to Policy Solutions

Building on extensive desk research and the good practices gathered through the Call for Good Practice Sharing, the HL4EU consortium has moved into a more interactive phase of the project. So far, three virtual focus groups have been held, with two more planned in the coming month. These sessions bring together implementers of showcased good practices alongside other relevant organisations, creating space for deeper conversations on enablers and barriers of effective cross-sector collaboration.

Each discussion is supported by interactive elements and AI-assisted facilitation to help steer conversations, uncover shared challenges, and dig beneath the surface. The gathered insights will feed directly into one of the project’s most important outputs: policy recommendations which we aim to keep practical, grounded, and useful. Thanks to a robust methodology that combines quantitative research with qualitative insights from focus groups, the policy recommendations aim to reflect both evidence and experience on the ground.

Looking Ahead: Save the Date for the Final Conference

The HL4EU policy recommendations will be officially launched at the project’s final conference in Brussels on 4 May 2026. As part of European Public Health Week, Europe’s largest health awareness-raising campaign, we will host our Final Conference: “Advancing Cross-Sector Collaboration for a Healthier Europe.”

The event will bring together European stakeholders committed to promoting healthier, more active lifestyles through cross-sector collaboration and will showcase the key results of the HL4EU project.

Stay tuned for further details, including the agenda and registration link!