Common Ground is a project bringing people together from Northern Ireland and Scotland to strengthen community development in health.
It aims to build partnerships across sectors, tackle poverty and health inequalities, and support community leaders. By creating spaces for learning and collaboration, the project will help communities shape fairer, healthier futures.
CHEX has been working with the Community Development and Health Network in Northern Ireland on this programme since last year and it’s been a brilliant learning exercise and a great chance to make connections (and develop friendships too!).
The CDHN are a regional infrastructure organisation and work with local communities and across sectors to take action on the social determinants of health, improve wellbeing and reduce health inequalities.
The programme has allowed us to:
- Build lasting connections with community leaders across NI and Scotland
- Learn from successful models of community-led health and development
- Contribute to shaping inclusive, equitable futures
- Be part of a cross-border movement for change
Belfast learning exchange
Twenty community development leaders from across the public and community sectors (10 from CHEX and 10 from CDHN) have participated in online dialogue sessions and a learning exchange in Belfast. The Belfast visit included a Policy Round Table event with senior leaders and decision makers from across the community, voluntary, public and academic sectors in Northern Ireland.
These events enabled us to explore the programme objectives and identify common themes and share learning, skills and experiences which were used to inform the agenda for the Policy Round Table in Glasgow.
Glasgow policy roundtable
Community development leaders from the Common Ground programme were joined by 30 representatives from CHEX strategic partners across sectors including:
Community sector
Local and national third sector
National and territorial NHS Boards
Local authoritiesScottish Government
World Health Organisation and academia.
Attendees were welcomex by the CHEX team and heard from two speakers as part of the day.
Professor Rachel Baker, Glasgow Caledonian University explored the role community-led organisations play in impacting the health and wellbeing of people in disadvantaged areas, and presented on emerging findings from Common Health Assets Research Project.
Dionne Mackison, Head of Place, Environment and Health Harms, Public Health Scotland set out the current policy context around prevention, the Population Health Framework, and Public Health Scotland’s Together We Can: Public Health Scotland Strategy
Following these inputs, external facilitator, Paddy McKenna, invited the groups to discuss and consider the future and imagine ourselves in 2046:
“A future where it is really easy to implement a community development approach to tackling health inequalities.”
“A future where everyone at all levels of influence understands why this approach matters and why it works.”
“A future where the social model of health is centred and people’s experiences, voices and solutions are platformed.”
What’s next?
CDHN and CHEX are committed to further developing the work, issues and themes identified to reclaim and reimagine the role of community development in tackling heath inequalities through the Round Table sessions in Belfast and Glasgow. We will progress this locally as part of our core work, and through our East/West collaboration through the Common Ground Programme.
To learn more about this work please get in touch.
