Year in Review: the long run for positive change
Now entering its sixth year, PAN continues to coordinate and co-lead the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) Collective Impact Network (CIN). It is a chance for our fellow ‘long-distance athletes – BC Hepatitis Network (BCHN), Community-Based Research Centre (CBRC), Central Interior Native Health Society, Options for Sexual Health, Pivot Legal Society and YouthCO – to run together; to amplify what community organizations are already doing, to support and learn from each other; and find creative ways to collaborate.
The trust and relationships built around the CIN ‘table’, despite the forced move to virtual meetings, has encouraged open, honest discussion, and effective collaborations. This has been one of the lasting keys to success, that has taken time to develop. When surveying the group in early 2021, we found that network health, the CIN meetings, member collaboration, and engagement of people with lived and living experience (PWLLE) were very positive and had seen advancement year-over-year. In addition, having listened to ways to improve, we implemented the following: a shared model of leadership through facilitation and agenda setting; we created more room for members to share priority-related work, collaborate and reduce duplication; and added open space for advocacy and cultural agility, and more presentations from the BCCDC on harm reduction and epidemiological updates.
In April, stemming from a CIN project that sought to better understand peer engagement and best practices, we released the Peer Engagement Needs Assessment Survey to members of PAN and the CIN. The results were used to help customize the Establishing a Peer Support Program webinar series,and will also be a valuable source of information to help shape PAN’s peer engagement work in general.
PAN supported the promotion and evaluation of another PHSA 2-year funding opportunity aimed towards community-based organizations (especially Indigenous led and/or serving) that wanted to engage in peer programming for HIV, hepatitis C, mental health and substance use services. Through this process, we reached out to all the applicants to share the opportunity to take part in the webinar series.
In September, PAN and Luminate Wellness launched the 4-week series to build knowledge and capacity for any group who is starting a program or wants to strengthen what currently exists. We look forward to evaluating this project and how we can continue to support both our members and allies, in some cases offering individualized coaching to implement learning from the series.
This summer, the CIN has started to plan for the next 18 months of enhanced collective actions. Based on our existing foundation, we want to “develop outcomes that are based on community values sufficiently ambitious that they cannot be realized through business as usual.” (Cabaj and Weaver 6). We are presently deciding on impactful and achievable actions to undertake in the following areas:
- Provincial policy change re: drug poisoning crisis
- Concerns with municipalities and bylaws re: harm reduction and stigma
- More PWLLE into programming/employment and centering PWLLE voices in advocacy
The PHSA and First Nations Health Authority (FNHA) are partners at the CIN the table. Over the years, some of the faces have changed, but the goal “to best support people living with HIV and hepatitis C and the front-line organizations that serve them”, towards which we run, remains.
For more information, contact Simon Goff, Collective Impact Network Coordinator, [email protected]
Team Reports