People’s Health Trust is working to reduce health inequalities across Great Britain and to help explain our approach to funding, we have created a short film – Taking Action Together.
Through the film, the Trust discusses the importance of local residents taking greater control locally and working together to make where they live even better places to grow, live, work and age.
The Trust focuses on reducing health inequalities because we believe that where you live should not reduce the length of your life or the quality of your health.
To help address this, People’s Health Trust is committed to investing in local people living in the neighbourhoods which are the most likely to be affected by health inequalities.
All of our funding programmes take a neighbourhood-led approach, putting control into the hands of residents.
The Local Conversations programme, for example, supports residents to design, develop and deliver local change.
The programme aims to give people who live in disadvantaged neighbourhoods a real say over how funding is spent in their area.
It gives local people the time and space they need to talk about the issues that are important to them.
Over time, this will help local groups to make greater changes in their neighbourhooods that can start to shift the local balance of power back to residents.
It is through greater equality of power and representation at a local level that longer-term outcomes, resulting in the transformation needed to truly address health inequalities, can be achieved.
This type of locally-led change is demonstrated by one of the projects featuring in the film, the Local Conversation in Penparcau. Here, residents have been working on a shared vision for the area with support from Penparcau Community Forum.
In the film, residents from both the senior and youth forum talk about what has happened in the local area since the project began in March 2014. This has included: the community centre, mini bus and opportunities for young people such as sea angling.
Bryn Jones, Penparcau Community Forum Co-Ordinator, said: “Everyone at Penparcau Community Forum is really proud to be part of People’s Health Trust’s film.
“The Local Conversation has rallied our community in a way that we’ve never seen before, so it’s great that people across Britain have the opportunity to see what’s going on in Penparcau.”
The film also features Jez Buffin, Principal Lecturer at the Centre for Citizenship and Community, School of Social Work, at the University of Central Lancaster (UCLAN) who has been working closely with Penparcau Community Forum on their Local Conversation.
In the film he explains how easily local initiatives can fail when professionals go into a community and try to fix problems without truly understanding the area or connecting with residents.
Residents begin to see that this is a movement that can truly make real and lasting change. People who might not usually get involved in local projects begin to connect to networks that can bring about positive change in their lives and their neighbourhoods.
John Hume, Chief Executive – People’s Health Trust, said: “Where people live and work, and their social and economic conditions have been shown to have a profound impact on their health.
“People’s Health Trust believes residents know their neighbourhoods best so it is important to give them the opportunity to take control over local change.
“We work with local residents to help address the injustice which leads to health inequalities. It is heartening to see this coming to life, as the film shows.
“We hope you enjoy watching it.”
To learn more, please visit: People’s Health Trust
