By giving parents their immediate social environment an active role in the research, we gain insight into what is really going on within the first 1000 days of their children. Based on these insights, we develop activities and test them in their daily lives. In this way, the research fits seamlessly with the needs and perceptions of the people and we prevent research results from being shelved.

We talk to parents and their immediate social environment about their issues, needs, opportunities, and obstacles they experience concerning a healthy start for their children. We use a wide scope to tackle all possible problems. With the parents, we create an overview of the available opportunities in Amsterdam Nieuw-West and ask about their experiences.

As a result of the conversations with the parents, we devise activities that help them give their children a healthy start. These are activities that we can realize in the short term and with limited resources. We observe and test whether the activities are successful and why. Where necessary, we can adapt aptly. We guarantee continuity by giving the parents from Amsterdam Nieuw-West ownership of the activities.

Food4Smiles is about sharing parents' insights with the rest of the world. This allows policies regarding the first 1000 days to be based on the reality of the people that are at stake. These are the people who play the most prominent role in achieving a healthy start for children. All our insights are shared through this website, scientific publications, and presentations.

Food4Smiles' participatory action research will be completed at the end of 2021, the findings will be included in Food4Smiles' systems science approach, and we will continue to work from there.