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Bob GardnerStrategic DialogueMay 10-11, 2010
April 10, 2023 1
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• review of international and Canadian research and practice with comprehensive community initiatives:• from major comparative syntheses• through case studies from across the country
• what we found:• CCIs for poverty reduction in Canada showed similar patterns,
enablers and lessons learned on what worked• but context is crucial for these types of problems and solutions
• not just to understanding differences with international• but to guide and ground initiatives wherever we are
• will illustrate Cdn context by assessing impact of CCIs so far• will set out some specific challenges for Cdn CCIs moving forward
April 10, 2023 2
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• coordinated national projects:• Vibrant Communities
• who initiated this strategic review• 14 Trial Blazer communities
• Community Economic Development Network• dozens of local initiatives defined and planned as CCIs• many more that share key goals and characteristics:
• Social Planning Councils – hooked into provincial anti-poverty campaign and official strategy in Ontario
• United Way and Community Foundation social justice efforts• particular communities – e.g. broad collaborations to end
homelessness in Calgary, community planning in Ottawa and elsewhere
April 10, 2023 3
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From our backgrounder – enablers for successful CCIs were similar in Canada:
• developing an inspiring vision and coherent strategy;• building from solid foundations of local research, experience and community
strengths;• being solidly based – and solidly connected – to the needs and perspectives of
local people and communities;• aligning the wide range of activities and partnerships these initiatives engage in
to the core vision and strategy;• learning how to manage complexity and work across multiple sectors and
activities;• developing effective ways to build evaluation and learning back into the initiative
and adapt to changing conditions/opportunities;• defining and pushing for public policy that will enable the initiatives to thrive and
sustain themselves; and• delivering local impact while addressing the wider roots of poverty and
inequality.
April 10, 2023 4
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• there is a clear gradient in health in which people with lower income, education or other lines of social inequality and exclusion tend to have poorer health• over ¼ of low income people in Ontario – 3 X high income – report
their health to be poor or only fair• 2-3 X as many low income as high income people have chronic
conditions such as diabetes or heart problems• ¼ of low income people reported their daily activities were prevented
by pain = 2X than high income• difference btwn life expectancy of top and bottom income decile in
Canada = 7.4 years for men and 4.5 for women• more sophisticated analyses take account of the pronounced gradient
in morbidity and quality of life and developing data on health adjusted life expectancy = even higher disparities btwn top and bottom = 11.4 years for men and 9.7 for women
• stark reflection of the impact of poverty and inequality
April 10, 2023 5
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•Health inequalities are rooted in wider social and economic inequality•These determinants of health interact and intersect with each other•In constantly changing and dynamic system•In fact, through multiple interacting and inter-dependent economic, social and health systems playing out in particular places•Determinants have a reinforcing and cumulative effect on individual and population health
Capturing complexity for health inequalities
similar research and analysis on foundations and drivers of other complex problems:
•inequality of educational outcomes•social exclusion of immigrants•racism•crime •poverty
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• strategic point =• systems and forces that shape poverty are part of wider systems and
intersect with wider forces• need ‘whole system’s approaches
• practical point =• the need for broad collaborations and coordinated efforts to address
complex issues extends far beyond poverty• poverty initiatives need to hook into other comprehensive local efforts
→ reinforce each other• broader policy context = place-focused interventions have become a
theme in many fields• with broad local coordination and collaboration efforts in
neighbourhood renewal, addressing health disparities, participatory planning, education reform and other problems
• not just on specific problems like poverty, but across problems
April 10, 2023 8
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• for poverty, we know what doesn’t work:• punitive welfare regimes as they have evolved • traditional siloed and short-term anti-poverty efforts • throwing $ at symptoms of poverty in isolation
• and promising directions have been identified:• local partnerships• attacking poverty across many fronts• integrated and coordinated programs• planning driven by community interests and perspectives• enabling individual and community capacity building as central
• that’s the context in which comprehensive community initiatives arose
April 10, 2023 9
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• if we’re asking if CCIs have been effective – we need to specify effective at what – to what purposes?
• need to differentiate levels of impact:• individual – whether building up skills or dealing with the harshest
damages of poverty• local community -- building resilience and capacitates• system wide – changing foundations of poverty and underlying
policies• need to build complexity into analysis of impacts:
• particular results are inter-dependent and hard to separate• fundamental change takes time• always look for unintended consequences
• need to build this into planning from the outset:• CCIs need to be clear on where they expect to have an impact – and
how
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moving poverty up the policy agenda
building collaborations
building community capacities
ameliorating the impact of poverty
high profile campaignsinvolving credible leaders and organizations
many examples of broad collaborationsis this important in and of itself?this does require significant resources and commitment
some promising indicationshard to assess wider implicationsand also requires significant resources and sustainable commitment
program effectivenessintegrated and cross-sectoral services do deliver good services
April 10, 2023 11
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getting individuals out of poverty
addressing the roots of poverty and overall rates
Vibrant Communities and other initiatives are geared to enhancing individual assets – have done sobut does this get and keep those individuals out of poverty? does this reduce poverty overall?
limited effectbut unrealistic expectation – local projects can’t change national policy and underlying structures of inequalitymany CCIs do target policy changes and have had local successestheory of change here needs to be clear on how local collaborations → builds mobilization and shifts agenda → pressure for change
April 10, 2023 12
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• bigger question behind effectiveness: • do CCIs make enough of a difference to justify the resources and time?• do they make more of a difference than other possible strategies?
• yes: because CCIs build on strengths and areas where community efforts have leverage and unique advantages• community sector can’t change policy directly, but CCIs can contribute to
building awareness and broad coalitions to press for change• govts need community sector to deliver services → seize opportunity to try to
shift how services are designed• CCIs show that other ways of delivering services and addressing the impact of
poverty are possible• can bring together many organizations, communities and projects → to
reinforce their impact• can show that promising different future directions for poverty reduction are
imaginable – and achievable
April 10, 2023 13
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• inspirational: popular vision of a fair and equal society that will mobilize and energize people for action
• analytical: • always specifying what we think CCIs will accomplish and how• in other words, start from a solid theory of change• part of this is being very clear on what success looks like:
• for expanding individual opportunities• for building community capacities and strengths• for mobilizing for policy and social change to address the roots of
poverty • coherent: pulling together a web of partners and projects
into a well-aligned and integrated strategy
April 10, 2023 14
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• in policy sphere – social problems like poverty are seen as ‘wicked’ issues:• shaped by a range of inter-dependent and inter-secting factors and trends• impact and implications are uncertain and dynamic• little agreement on solutions• and limited evidence or predictability about impact of policy-program
interventions→ shifts in policy directions:
• need for comprehensive and coordinated cross-sectoral strategies, and more ‘joined-up’ processes within governments has been recognized
• understood that complex problems are played out in particular places• broad national policy and targets + local priority setting and implementation
= opportunity for CCIs• well placed to concretely demonstrate how to concretely and effectively
address ‘wicked’ problems
April 10, 2023 15
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• not just an opportunity, but a necessity• especially in Canada, government funding and support is critical to
success → government policy frameworks, processes and assumptions that support CCIs are key:• need to get beyond silos and fragmentation, short-term and project
funding and overly rigid accountability regimes• need to help governments define their stewardship function flexibly to
allow potential of comprehensive local initiatives to be realized• CCI proponents need to identify what a favourable overall policy
framework looks like• need to also be aware of dangers as well -- immediate political
context: • inhospitable fiscal climate • innovation chill within governments
April 10, 2023 16
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• CCI proponents need to • make the case for CCIs as solutions to governments' ‘wicked’
problems• CCIs not only have to be effective –they have to be seen
to be effective• have to be able to demonstrate unique advantages and value• have to be able to prove impact → back to evaluation
• more generally, CCIs have to be seen to be vital part of poverty reduction repertoire• requires attention to government and other funder relations,
media work and communications• be visible and entrepreneurial in seeking out appropriate
funding and collaborative opportunities
April 10, 2023 17
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• and even in the coldest climate, wider policy trends can provide openings for comprehensive approaches:• emerging emphasis across governments and countries on
neighbourhood as base for social policy interventions• local coordinating committees of immigrant settlement services = can
also be space to highlight wider issues of precarious labour markets, social exclusion, housing and health, etc.
• Ontario Ministry of Health Promotion is adopting a new ‘healthy communities’ strategy + BC Act Now = opening for community development and collaborative approaches
• Ontario again – provincial public health standards require local departments to address population health and disparities within populations = opening for cross-sectoral collaborations
• comprehensive initiatives underway in settlement support, public health, community planning and many other promising initiatives → look beyond usual suspects to build collaborations beyond poverty
April 10, 2023 18
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• increasing diversity → cultural competence needs to be integrated into all aspects of CCIs• not just in sense of training and process, but being grounded in full
diversity of communities drives planning and priorities• building on strengths and resiliency of particular immigrant
communities• analyzing racist and other barriers in planning• ensuring ‘voice’ of diverse communities in collaborations and decision-
making• build this into coalitions – e.g. Colour of Poverty campaign in Ontario
• need to analyze complexity of inequality and exclusion people face – multi-dimensional nature of poverty• potential of anti-oppression approaches• not always easy to promote this language within organizations• but analysis is critical, whatever it is called
April 10, 2023 19
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• the most successful and broadly supported local efforts don’t automatically address the foundations of poverty
• by being intentional and smart, CCIs offer a way to bridge the local and system-wide:• digging deep to address the local roots of poverty• building broad local collaborations and integrated efforts→ shows concretely that action on poverty is possible
• challenge is to organize local action so it:• always uses local successes and stories to highlight the wider
structural forces that underlie poverty• always looks for ways to mobilize from local initiatives, to build local
momentum for change in ways that address wider foundations of poverty
• always connects local efforts to national strategies and campaigns
April 10, 2023 20
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• builds from Aspen emphasis on alignment• challenge of analyzing and implementing the best balance among
constantly shifting pressures:• demand for immediate and visible outcomes -- but reducing poverty
will take years of concerted efforts• collaboration is a vital pre-condition, but is it an end in itself?
• what kinds of collaborations? for what contexts?• building individual resilience and community capacities – but in ways
that highlight the wider foundations of poverty• these challenges are ongoing:
• not just good alignment at design stage• but constant and iterative balancing and re-alignment
• while keeping these necessary tactical re-adjustments lined up with overall strategy and vision
April 10, 2023 21
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• successful and sustainable CCIs need to build evaluation into their core:• figuring out what works in their circumstances• adapting programs and collaborations in response• which requires resources and capacities
• they continually experiment and innovate• means not being afraid to take risks• evaluate and adapt again• build into continuous learning and innovation cycle
• and beyond – need forums and infrastructure to share experience and lessons learned, assess promising practices, scale up where appropriate• while learning and innovation may be local• this learning infrastructure needs to be broad → key challenge for
public policy
April 10, 2023 22
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• no magic blueprint -- never a question of do this or do that, but of making the best judgment based on experience and circumstances
• none of these challenges moving forward need to be all or nothing:• goal doesn’t need to be CCIs in every community• but it could be trying to make all anti-poverty efforts as coordinated
and comprehensive as possible• great potential of CCIs to most effectively mobilize wide coalitions and
enable communities to address poverty in neighbourhoods and cities• the challenge is to build this local mobilization in ways that reinforce and
build broader provincial and national mobilization and pressure governments to act decisively
• back to vision:• the ultimate goal is a fair and equitable society where lives are not
stunted by poverty and exclusion• CCIs are part of the wide mobilization to get there
April 10, 2023 23
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• these speaking notes and further resources on policy directions to enhance health equity, address the social determinants of health and support a vibrant and innovative community sector are available on our site at http://wellesleyinstitute.com
• my email is [email protected]• I would be interested in any comments on the ideas
in this presentation and any information or analysis on initiatives or experience that address health equity
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The Wellesley Institute advances urban health through rigorous research, pragmatic policy solutions, social innovation, and community action.
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