SCDC

The CHEX Network

CHEX has an extensive network of organisations and individuals from across Scotland, and further afield, which contribute to and benefit from the work of CHEX.

In general, the CHEX network could be described as a loose and informal network.  However, within the wider CHEX network, there are several formally constituted groupings.  For example: 

  • Lothian Community Health Projects' Forum - Ths forum is a constituted support organisation for community health initiatives and HLCs in the Lothians Health Board areas.  For more information, visit http://www.lchpf.co.uk/ or e-mail lesley.blackmore@lhb.scot.nhs.uk.
  • Healthy Living Centres Alliance - CHEX has provided support to Scotland’s Healthy Living Centres (HLCs) through the previous HLC Support Programme. Healthy Living Centres formed themselves into the Healthy Living Centre Alliance in 2008 and more information about the Alliance is available here.
  • The Inverclyde Voluntary Sector Health Network meets quarterly to discuss local issues and highlight opportunities for collaborative working. The group has a membership of approx 30 organisations drawn from the CVS Inverclyde database and is supported by Cathie Kelly of CVS Inverclyde. To contact the network, e-mail Cathie on cathie.kelly@cvsinverclyde.org.uk.
  • West and Central Voluntary Sector Network, Glasgow - the Health and Social Issues Group of this network meet regularly to discuss issues of common concern and interest. The network encompasses voluntary sector organisations within the West and Central Community Planning Partnership area of Glasgow. The support officer for this network is Bronagh Gallagher Bronagh@wcavsn.co.uk and their website is http://www.wcavsn.co.uk/.

Working with networks such as these provides CHEX with the opportunity of strong connections with live issues of common concern to the community health sector at any given time.  Collaborative training and development events have arisen from the close relationship CHEX has with these networks.  Reports of such events can be found in the newsletter/ publications section of this site. 

Our network is key to the work of CHEX at every level.  Members of the network are represented on our Advisory Committee, which guides the work of CHEX, and on our Editorial Board, which identifies the current issues on which to focus in the CHEX newsletter, ‘CHEX-Point’. 

Our database of CHEX network members provides us with the capacity to quickly and easily disseminate useful information through out the country but also to establish the needs and opinions of the community health sector across Scotland.  To sign up to our network, click here

CHEX also works collaboratively to support and promote community led initiatives in health with a number of other National organisations including (click on the title to access their website):

The Benefits of Networking

Both formal and informal networks provide organisations and individuals with a range of benefits.  These include:-

  • Sharing and exchanging information
  • Developing supportive relationships
  • Developing a sense of common purpose through shared values and identity
  • Providing a forum for debate and discussion
  • Sharing resources
  • Providing a collective voice

Networking, Community Development, Influencing Policy

The main purpose of community development is to enable people to work together to develop collective solutions to shared problems.

Networking provides a way of developing a strengthened structure from which a range of diverse organisations or individuals can collectively apply the knowledge gained from community development processes to influence, strategic and policy developments in wider arenas.  By pooling resources and opinions, the message they collectively express carries both increased weight and respect.

[Some of the above text was drawn from ‘Community Development and Networking’ by Alison Gilchrist, Community Development Foundation Publications.  For more information about this publication, visit the Publications Section of the Community Development Foundation's website at www.cdf.org.uk/]

 

(updated 8 January 2010)