Te Mana Ora | Community and Public Health has been working in a HiAP way in Canterbury for many years, including with local government and iwi. This work is supported by a network of formal and informal relationships with partner agencies.
Waka Toa Ora is a formal Canterbury DHB-led cross-sector partnership that has enabled collaborative HiAP work in Canterbury since its initiation in 2005. The charter signatories agree to work collaboratively with the understanding that “all sectors and groups have a role to play in creating healthy cities, whether their specific focus is recreation, employment, youth, environmental enhancement, transport, housing or any other aspect of city life.”
Contact the Health in All Policies team at Te Mana Ora | Community and Public Health for more information (03 364 1777).
Working with a Health in All Policies Approach
The health and wellbeing of our community is largely determined by factors that lie outside the health sector itself. The partner organisations are committed to championing approaches that will ensure that health and wellbeing are embedded into policy development, planning cycles and project development - a Health in All Policies (HiAP) approach.
Find out more about Health in All Policies on the Te Mana Ora | Community and Public Health website.
Commitments to the Treaty of Waitangi and capacity building
The Treaty of Waitangi informs the work of Health in All Policies in Canterbury. The partners have made a commitment to be involved in a range of HiAP activities which include capacity building, implementation and evaluation both within and outside their organisations and the use of specific resources and tools to undertake impact assessments.
Addressing joint local priorities
Joint Work Plans are in place with the Christchurch City Council (CCC) and Environment Canterbury Regional Council (ECan). These are used to plan and monitor collaborative work. T he Joint Work Plans cover six main focus areas covering a diverse range of topics, from strengthening communities, to transport, and supporting healthier homes and environments.
Another example is the Christchurch Alcohol Harm Partnership. This was developed in response to community concern about alcohol-related harm. The group created the Christchurch Alcohol Action Plan (CAAP) that provided a collective vision, strategies and actions aimed at achieving a sustained reduction in alcohol-related harm across Christchurch. The Plan is supported by the Christchurch City Council and the NZ Police.
The Greater Christchurch Partnership (GCP)
This is a collaboration between Community and Public Health, councils, government agencies and iwi. The Partnership is focused on planning and managing the impacts of growth and development on the Greater Christchurch area, including towns in the Selwyn and Waimakariri Districts.
The collaboration is based upon of series of key planning documents, including the Greater Christchurch Urban Development Strategy and the Resilient Greater Christchurch Plan.
The World Health Organisation included the Greater Christchurch Urban Development Strategy in their case study book - highlighting Canterbury’s success as a national and international leader in HiAP.
Find out more about the Greater Christchurch Partnership.
Canterbury HiAP Annual Reports
These Annual Reports highlight examples of HiAP in action and cross-sectoral work in the region.
Canterbury Health in All Policies Partnership (CHIAPP)
Four Waka Toa Ora partner organisations made up the Canterbury Health in All Policies Partnership (CHIAPP):
CHIAPP was consistent with and gave effect to the Waka Tora Ora Charter.
Canterbury Health In All Policies Excellence Awards 2015
The Canterbury Health In All Policies Excellence Awards were run in 2015 to recognise, reward and publicly acknowledge the excellent collaborative work taking place between the CHIAPP partners. The Awards were open to all staff members of Canterbury DHB, Christchurch City Council, Environment Canterbury and Ngāi Tahu.
Entering the Awards was an exciting opportunity to share ideas and lessons, gain recognition for your project, and celebrate the achievements of your project team.
Finalists for the CHIAPP Excellence Awards
- Health Impact Assessment of Environment Canterbury’s Air Plan Review (Emma Kenagy on behalf of Community and Public Health and Environment Canterbury).
- Smokefree Social Housing – One year on (Robert Hardie from the Christchurch City Council).
- Alcohol Harm Minimisation Advisory Group (AHMAG) and work programme (Stuart Dodd from Community and Public Health/Canterbury District Health Board).
Judges for the CHIAPP Excellence Awards were:
- Ben Harris-Roxas is a health consultant at ZEST Health Strategies and a Conjoint Lecturer at UNSW Australia. He has worked on Health Impact Assessments since 2003.
- Matt Soeberg helped set up the New Zealand Health Impact Assessment support unit back in the day. Now he is a postdoctoral research fellow based at the Cancer Institute of New South Wales. Matt has a strong interest in maximising the relevance of epidemiological research to policy, practice and improved patient outcomes.
- Patrick Harris is a senior research fellow at the University of Sydney. His main focus and experience is on the inclusion of health and health equity in public policy, including the use of Health Impact Assessment.