Healthy Communities An Approach to Action on Health Determinants in Canada Communautés en santé Une approche pour agir sur les déterminants de la santé au Canada

Healthy Communities International movement since 1980’s Healthy Communities addresses the dynamic interrelationship among the determinants of health 5 foundational building blocks:  Community engagement  Multi-sectoral partnerships  Political commitment  Healthy public policy  Asset-based community development

Shared Values and Approaches We support community level change and action through building on existing capacities We provide planning processes, workshops, events, knowledge exchange and other resources to help to expand and build upon community level change Our approach is inclusive, we take all the social determinants into consideration when working with communities in order to most effectively support overall community health and sustainability

The Project Four provincial Healthy Community networks are collaborating across disciplines, sectors, languages and geography around 3 key themes: Research Comprehensive literature review conducted on Healthy Communities initiatives best practices and links to chronic disease prevention Worked closely with 16 communities in 4 provinces in rural and urban settings to document and learn from activities and success factors (surveys, community portraits, roundtables, interviews, workshops and events)

The Project Practice Worked side by side with 16 communities to facilitate learning and knowledge exchange related to the social determinants of health and links to chronic disease prevention Shared tools, resources and best practices; Hosted events and delivered workshops and webinars Established the Canadian Healthy Communities Network. Policy Developed Policy Framework Conducted literature review on policy and explored policy recommendations for knowledge development, translation and exchange

Partners & Participants Project Partners: New Brunswick la Fédération des jeunes francophones du NB Paquetville Bathurst North Saint-Jean British Columbia Prince George, BC Gold River, BC Kelowna, BC Surrey, BC Participating Communities: Quebec Gatineau Rivière-du-Loup Victoriaville MRC Argenteuil Ontario Mississauga Haliburton Haldimand-Norfolk Thunder Bay

Products 1. Literature review 2. Community survey 3. Framework for policy analysis 4. Criteria for effective practice 5. Policy development framework 6. Workshops and presentations 7. Website community case studies 9. Promotional Materials 10. Knowledge exchange The project team

Emergent Themes Our research shows that the Healthy Communities approach is effective for CDP initiatives CDP initiatives benefit from upstream, holistic, integrated thinking that addresses determinants of health and common risk factors Community engagement leads to synergy, creativity, motivation and commitment Multi-media documentation of communities’ stories is an important tool for knowledge transfer

Knowledge Exchange Knowledge acquired through this project will be exchanged across sector, provincial, community contexts and official languages through the following vehicles: Online: website, newsletter, discussion groups, webinars; other web portals Workshops at conferences and for organizations Presentations Dissemination of tools and resources Publication of articles Sharing with local, provincial, national committees and partners

Sustainability Partnership development had fostered sustainability at the local level Project partners are commited to continuing to work collaboratively, to disseminate project results and actively participate in a national Healthy Communities network.