The complexity of partnering across sectors and community, a case example of Logan Together

Abstract

Background : Before they draw their first breath, the life chances of children living in poverty and vulnerable communities are often being shaped by inequities (UNICEF, 2017). Disadvantage will help determine whether they are healthy or unhealthy, whether they have a chance to learn effectively and later earn a decent living. But it need not be so. Logan Together (LT) is a great example of an innovative and effective solution to giving children in Logan the best chance at thriving in life. LT is a 10-year community campaign to ensure Logan kids grow up as healthy and full of potential as any other group of Australian children. There are currently 45,000 children aged 0-8 in Logan out of a total city population of 316,000. 30 per cent or approximately 14,000 of these children have developmental vulnerability at school entry. LT is marshalling resources across the health, education and social services sectors, and the community, to create a coordinated movement capable of meaningfully improving rates of healthy development. Improvement towards the Queensland and Australian benchmarks are the goal – meaning an improvement in the trajectories of about 5,000 children. For the most part, constraints on reaching vulnerable children are not technical. They are a matter of political commitment, resources and collective will – joining forces for collective action to tackle inequity and inequality by focusing on a greater investment on long term solutions, and reaching children who are being left behind (UNICEF, 2017). There is an imperative to work in an integrated way as the only effective way to impact on the determinats of health, health inequity and ‘wicked’ health conditions.Developing meaningful cross sector partnerships is a highly complex yet rewarding process. Relating specifically to LT partnering with Hosanna Logan City (a key community leader and partner), and Children’s Health Queensland’s Centre for Children’s Health and Wellbeing (a government body), we seek to outline a way to do this most effectively whilst highlighting our challenges and successes along the way. Aims and Objectives : The theory of change is simple: take a universal and preventative approach to supporting all children through each developmental stage across the early life course. Putting the community in a co-leadership role, working in an integrated manner, and using a collective impact methodology to drive aligned effort are key features. The workshop will consider the elements of this process. Format : Speakers will be a combination of the above highlighted key agencies.The workshop presentation will work through each of these components in small group work format: - Collective Impact and co design - Culture - Communication - Partnering skillset Target : Organisations, communities and individuals (clinicians, project workers, policy makers, leaders) keen to increase their understanding of working in an integrated way to effect change at community and population levels. Learnings : The workshop will strive to increase understanding through practice examples and small group work. Learnings will include: how to work in an integrated way across sectors and institutions, contexts and environments to influence children's health and wellbeing, how to develop a partnering skillset, and what is collective impact.