Welcome to the 5th Best-ReMaP Newsletter
May | 2023
Welcome to the fifth newsletter of the Best-ReMaP (2020-2023), a Europe-wide Joint Action that seeks to contribute to an improved quality of food supplied to citizens of Europe by facilitating the exchange and testing of good practices. In this newsletter, you can read about our recent or upcoming events such as the final conference in Paris, the Policy Dialogue event series, webinars, and the educational film for children.
The Joint Action Best-ReMaP project brings together health and food policy authorities and other relevant stakeholders of the Member States to develop and implement impactful policies and practices on the ground.The main research areas focus on (1) food reformulation, (2) reducing food marketing to children and (3) public procurement of healthy food in public settings. In the last phase of the project experts and stakeholders gather to share results, key recommendations and lay the foundations for policy-makers to adapt, replicate and implement effective health interventions in Member States. These events are the highlights of the project, please find the list of events in the upcoming months.
Conference in Paris 18-20 September 2023 - 'Best We Met'
From Evidence to Action – Sustaining the Impact of Best-ReMaP
The Conference of the Best-ReMaP Joint Action will take place on September 18-20, 2023, at the Ministry of Solidarity and Health in Paris. The conference will consist of a series of keynote speeches and workshops focused on reducing non-communicable diseases through the development of healthier nutrition policies, improving food monitoring, regulating food marketing, and promoting the procurement of nutritious food in public institutions. The event will include a working dinner on the first day, followed by the General Assembly meeting on days two and three. Participants will have the opportunity to network and share best practices during the workshops, and the conference will culminate in a presentation of the JA Best-ReMaP Final Roadmap. As the event takes place in the enchanting city of Paris, a sightseeing tour is an indispensable component of the conference, where participants have the opportunity to network and celebrate the achievements of the project.
Registration is now open
Regional Policy Dialogues
Three regional policy dialogues are being organized between March and May 2023, where decision-makers and policy-makers meet with research teams to discuss the project’s outcomes, challenges and opportunities of implementing the project’s core work packages at the national level. The Member States joining the project have been divided into three geographical regions, and a national policy dialogue is to be held for each of these regions (Mediterranean, Central European, Northern/Scandinavian). The final policy dialogue will be held at the European level in Brussels on May 25th, where the outcomes of the project will be discussed with EU policy experts.
Mediterranean Policy Dialogue, Rome 28 March
At ISS Rome BestReMaP partners discussed the activities of the work packages and identified the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of implementing BestReMaP outcomes into national policies.
The Northern/Scandinavian Dialogue was held in Helsinki on the 5th of May, and the Central European Policy Dialogue took place in Vienna on 12th May. The regional policy events will be followed by a final Plenary Policy Dialogue and a Policy Decision Making Forum in Brussels. As a result of these events, a final report on sustainability and integration in national policies will be drafted in order to analyze what actions and factors make initiatives sustainable and likely to succeed after the recommendations of the core work packages are made.
Webinars
A webinar is an effective tool for presenting the achievements of the project to a wide range of stakeholders across the globe. For this reason, we are organizing webinars to share results of the core work package areas.
Join us at the upcoming webinar on Procurement of nutritious food in public institutions – Conclusions and Outcomes of Regional Policy Dialogues on 18th May 13:00-15:00 CEST. No registration is needed, the link to the event will be available at the Best-ReMaP website:
https://bestremap.eu/webinar-on-food-procurement/
In order to familiarize yourself with the topic, take our quiz on food in schools and learn what a child should eat to be healthy.
Webinars on Best practices in reducing marketing of unhealthy food to children and adolescents (WP6) and Food Composition Data: future quality, access and user needs (WP5) were already held, please find the event documents at our website.
https://bestremap.eu/webinar-on-food-marketing/
Local Stakeholder Forums
Best-ReMaP project partners organize national stakeholder events during the lifetime of the project. The primary purpose of these events is to inform national stakeholders about the activities of the project and to provide a platform that brings together nutrition experts, policymakers, educators, university students, food industry representatives, procurement departments of public institutions and marketing organizations to discuss and address the challenges related to children’s diet and health.These sessions offer a comprehensive program that includes various activities, such as presentations of core work-package results, panel discussions, workshops, and interactive sessions where participants are encouraged to foster collaborative solutions and to improve current policies concerning key national health-related issues.
To maximize the benefits of the event, organizers are encouraged to select a topic of national relevance with one of the project’s themes. This approach will help channel the ideas and perspectives of national stakeholders into the Joint Action. To facilitate a meaningful dialogue, the Co-create Dialogue Forum Tool is used during these sessions that is designed to align various perspectives, to discuss and to take action on an idea as well as to influence policy decisions at the national and EU level.
Since these events are an excellent means of dissemination, media outlets are invited to feature news on the childhood obesity situation in Europe with the aims of changing the food environment for children and to help reduce harmful marketing of foods to children.
Fresh Food Hollywood: Educational animated video
With the support of our experts, Best-ReMaP has produced a short educational video for children called Fresh Food Hollywood. The primary aim of the film is to reach children directly across Europe in order to draw their attention to healthier food options. The key message of the film is to create awareness of the importance of making healthier food choices through positive messaging. The short video portrays relatable and charming characters and aims to shift the narrative, stating that fresh food and drinking water can be even cooler/trendier than the fast-food options.
We are currently distributing the film and a supplementary material package for teachers to schools in Europe. The primary target group is children between 10 and 14 years of age, but students above this age group can also be engaged in a meaningful conversation about the topic of food marketing and the possibilities of making the right choice when it comes to healthy eating.
The film has been chosen to participate in the competitive program of the prestigious KAFF Animation Film Festival. This renowned event showcases films from 32 countries across 6 categories, captivating the attention of both judges and audiences. What makes this occasion particularly significant is the inclusion of a kid-jury, who will evaluate, assess, and vote for the best films. Hence, our target audience will have an additional chance to be inspired by the engaging characters portrayed in the film, such as the animated can of water’s epic celebration dance, the jumping baby pea, the lively tuna-sandwich, and the yoga-practicing chickpeas, among many others.
Please watch the video here: https://bestremap.eu/edu-video/
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