De Sprong VZW: Community Engagement and Digital Behavior Change

From neighborhood initiative to sustainable behavior change

De Sprong vzw is a social-innovative organization dedicated to health, movement and connection in neighborhoods and vulnerable communities. With their Fitmakers program, they guide people towards a more active and healthier lifestyle.

The challenge was clear: how do you ensure that motivation does not stop after a workshop or group moment?

De Sprong works in a strongly community-driven way. But that's where the paradox lies:
Good intentions are there, the energy is there, only behavioral change often remains fragile.

The question to Move To Happiness was not "can you deliver an app?"
The question was: how do we support our participants even between moments? How do we keep engagement alive without additional pressure on facilitators?

The approach

Strengthening community with digital continuity

Together with De Sprong, a two-layer approach was chosen:

Community & Engagement as a foundation

The platform was deployed to:

• Support challenges around exercise and healthy habits
• Link micro-campaigns to existing Fitmakers initiatives
• Let participants inspire each other through shared actions

What stood out: Digital support did not replace physical coaching.
It extended them.

The community remained the heart.
The platform became the rhythm between meetings.

This provided:

• More continuity between group moments
• Higher involvement in actions
• Visibility of small successes

And perhaps more importantly, participants felt not "controlled," but supported.

Personal AI buddies as an approachable guide

In addition to community, individual support was also activated.

Not as a mandatory track.
But as voluntary additional support.

Practical examples:

Wellness Wally
Used as a first point of contact for reflection and motivation.
For participants who doubted or struggled to persevere, Wally offered approachable conversations and small, achievable steps.

Bite Buddy
Was used with participants who wanted to work around nutrition, without falling into dietary thinking.
Focus was on simple behavior modifications within their own context.

Snoozzz
For participants with irregular lifestyles or limited energy, sleep and recovery were made negotiable.

What De Sprong especially appreciated: the AI buddies function as an extension of counseling, not a replacement.

They lower the threshold to ask for help. Without a waiting list. Without stigma.

Results & strategic evolution

From welfare initiative to structural impact

What is visible today:

• Increased continuity in participation
• Increased self-directed interaction
• Positive adoption of AI buddies as personal sparring partners
• Less reliance on one-on-one mentoring

What is not claimed:

• No hard medical claims
• No direct economic ROI calculations

That would not fit their context.

What does show up is something else: behavior change gets a system.

The Leap today looks at how organizational-level data and insights can help:

• Recognize patterns in engagement
• Time initiatives better
• Make impact more visible to partners and funders

This is where human performance comes in, not as KPI language, but as:structural strengthening of energy, engagement and resilience in communities.