Kyiv, June 18, 2020. СSR Ukraine, Center for CSR Development expert organization in cooperation with UNFPA and with the United Nations Population Fund in Ukraine held a 21-day all-Ukrainian online marathon for youth #HealthyChallenge2020 and involved more than 4,500 young people from different regions of Ukraine.

Partners: Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, Decathlon Ukraine, online news outlet #Букви, and ChallengeCore platform.

The online marathon was held as part of the all-Ukrainian Healthy Challenge program, and aims to promote a healthy lifestyle and improve the emotional state of young people, especially amid the spread of COVID-19.

For 21 days (from May 18 to June 7, 2020), boys and girls from different regions received daily challenges related to healthy living via special telegram bot @HealthyChallengeBot. The tasks for young people focused on physical activity, nutrition, reproductive and mental health, and COVID-19 prevention.

“We are very pleased that young people not only took the challenge and performed tasks every day at home while in quarantine, but also had the opportunity to develop useful habits for 21 days: sports, proper nutrition, and healthy behavior. This challenge is being held for the second year in a row and we can see how much such initiatives are supported by young people from different cities. Now that we are all facing the threat of COVID-19, such initiatives really help,” said Liudmila Shevtsova, Program Analyst, Youth / HIV at UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund. 

In total, more than 4,500 young people registered for the challenge marathon, 570 of them successfully completed the tasks and competed for useful prizes every week: water bottles for sports, towels, mini-backpacks and lunch boxes, as well as the main prizes, namely fitness bracelets.

The survey shows that after the Marathon, 17% more participants practice healthy lifestyle: drink less alcohol, do physical exercises regularly, and add fresh vegetables and fruit to their diet. 

Among the most popular challenges of the marathon are #ПланкаЧелендж, #ВдягниМаску, #АнтистресЧелендж, #ТарілкаЗдоровогоХарчування and Everything You Need to Know about HIV/AIDS challenge.

"The health of young people in all its aspects is a topical and important issue. Thanks to the #HealthyChallenge2020 fan format, we have managed to make it really interesting and popular. Participants not only received useful recommendations, but also immediately tested them in practice: did physical exercises, placed creative posts on social networks, cooked healthy meals, and, of course, took interactive online courses and tests. We see the positive effect of the marathon and believe that such projects could make young people conscious and healthy,” said Taras Derkach, Healthy Challenge Program Coordinator at the Center for CSR Development.

The winners of the Healthy Challenge 2020 online marathon were: Maryna Svintsitska (16 years old, Khmelnytskyi), Sofiia Shvachka (16 years old, Lysychansk) and Olga Formoda (22 years old, Vinnytsia).

I learned a lot about healthy nutrition and I did a series of exercises such as "tabata-challenge" for the first time. The tasks were simple and feasible. I am very glad that the quarantine did not deprive me of such an opportunity, I discovered something new and won prizes", said Maryna Svintsitska, the winner of the online marathon.

“During the marathon, I did the plank hold for the first time and learned new information from the training videos sent to me as tasks. This project is an incentive for young people to eat healthy food, learn more about healthy living, play sports and take care of their health! ” said Anna Kichula, a prize winner of the online marathon.

For more details on Marathon and Healthy Challenge Program, contact Taras Derkach, Career Hub Coordinator, Center for CSR Development: td@csr-ukraine.org, 093 440 50 28