Strategic Action Programme for Healthy Communities: Project Summary
The ‘Strategic Action Programme for Healthy Communities' aims to develop strategies that will make the statutory sector more effective in supporting community-based action for health improvement. It is based on the premise that involving local people in initiatives to improve health and reduce inequalities will serve to empower individuals and to improve levels of self-determination, and personal health and wellbeing. Working in partnership with local communities also benefits the statutory sector as it enables policy and practice to be better targeted on the communities being served. This project addresses the question, how can the statutory sector build up its own capacity to engage with health enhancing community action?
The project is funded by the Department of Health and is being developed collaboratively by the King's Fund and the Universities of Liverpool and Salford. A cross-departmental steering group is overseeing the delivery of the project.
Background
There have been many initiatives concerned with building the capacity of local people to act collectively to control their social, material and physical environments. Our approach recognises that immense capacity already exists within communities but that external barriers can thwart even the most concerted community action. For effective community participation, it is essential that the statutory sector recognises the value of community involvement and establishes meaningful partnerships with local populations.
Experience to date has shown that, in practice, statutory organisations often find working with communities difficult to initiate and/or sustain. Consequently, there is an equivalent need for capacity building within the statutory sector to develop appropriate knowledge, skills, attitudes and relationships. A more strategic approach is also required to ensure that action is co-ordinated across statutory sector organisations and across related policies.
Project outline
The project has four main components:
1. Literature-based researchA literature review will be directed towards answering three main questions:
- what factors constrain the ability of the statutory sector to work in partnership with communities?
- what can be learned from existing examples of good and bad practice in this area?
- is there evidence that developing the statutory sector to work in a more equal way with communities will improve population health and reduce inequalities?
2. Pre-pilot research
The pre-pilot research is designed to give insights into actual and potential barriers to partnership working between the statutory sector and local communities, and to explore ways of overcoming the barriers to promote more effective joint working. Interviews will be conducted across sectors with strategic decision-makers, professional/managerial staff, ‘frontline' officers and community members – all of whom have been involved in community–statutory partnership working. Evidence from their firsthand experience will point to strategies with the potential to promote joint activity. The research team's preliminary ideas for strategic interventions will also be tested to select the most feasible.
Two deliberative workshops were held early on in the project to discuss the statutory sector's role in community development and to generate recommendations for the next phase. The analysis of the literature review and pre-pilot research helped to identify strategic interventions that could be tested by large-scale pilots.
3. Pilot projectsPilot projects have focused on:
- building routes to shared learning between communities, voluntary organisations and the statutory sector
- clarifying the nature and level of support needed by the statutory sector to develop the knowledge, skills, attitudes and relationships necessary to support capacity building in communities
- identifying the types of learning experiences/opportunities that have the greatest potential to promote change in professional behaviour and organisational culture.
Evaluation of the pilots was conducted through a peer review process.
4. Reporting and dissemination
The project has aimed to ensure that evidence generated from the pilots is translated into practical change in terms of organisational, strategic and policy development. The goal is to engage a wide range of audiences beyond the statutory sector and to create a resource for practical application beyond the lifetime of the project.
Workshops and seminars held throughout the 18 months of the project provided opportunities for shared learning and networking, as well as commenting on the research process and emerging findings.
A one-day conference was held (on 25 July 2001) to mark the end of the programme and share the project findings. The conference was attended by key personnel from heath and local government, communities, voluntary organisations and academics.