Building Bridges and Connecting Communities: Celebrating the 2023 Public Engagement in Health Policy Community Fellows

Building Bridges and Connecting Communities: Celebrating the 2023 Public Engagement in Health Policy Community Fellows

Highlights from the Community Fellowship Event

Story by Roma Dhamanaskar, Joanna Massie & Moizza Zia Ul Haq
Photography by Ron Scheffler

This summer, the Public Engagement in Health Policy (PEHP) project funded 11 community groups through the Community Fellows Program to support community leaders and organizations to carry out innovative engagement projects that advance the goals of more inclusive health system and policy decision making. In October 2023, the PEHP brought together the fellows for a full-day, in-person event to share their progress, exchange their learnings, and support community building.

“We canvassed the community organizations, to ask what would be most helpful for them, and built an agenda around their needs and goals,” describes political science PhD candidate and PEHP team member, Joanna Massie. “Recognizing the importance of peer support, we started the day with a community exchange where each team presented on their organization, engagement initiative, and the challenges they were experiencing; this was followed by a networking opportunity for the organizations to connect with one another.”

Supporting critical reflection about equity-centred engagement

The afternoon portion of the event focused on the importance of equity-centred engagement and what this may entail in different organizations. “It requires dedicated resources and strategic investments, and a lot of deep thinking and critical reflection about the “why” and the “how”, explains Moizza Zia Ul Haq, master of public health graduate and PEHP team member.

The Public and Patient Engagement Collaborative’s equity-centred engagement resource guided the afternoon’s small group discussions, which spanned three broad stages of engagement: initiating and planning engagement, facilitating and conducting engagement, and taking stock and evaluating engagement. These conversations were facilitated by members of the PEHP team and led by the community fellows themselves.

Each group weaved both practical suggestions for equity-centred engagement as well as nuanced conversations about the possibilities and pitfalls of this work. The Initiating Engagement group discussed the importance of investing in engagement by offering suitable compensation to those engaged and ensuring adequate staff are dedicated to engagement activities. They discussed the problems associated with a lack of resources which often leads to tokenistic engagement or engagement with those who are easiest to reach, missing those who are most vulnerable or most affected.

The Conducting Engagement group noted the importance of meeting people where they are and shaping engagement around their capacity, preferences, and needs. They reflected that harm can sometimes occur during engagement, especially for communities who have negative experiences with the healthcare system, and that plans need to be in place for offering support and repairing relationships. Finally, the Evaluating Engagement group got into the nitty gritty of data and reflected upon the various ways we can determine whether engagement went well. A key insight was that engagement itself can guide evaluation – by asking those engaged what successful engagement looks like for them.

The PEHP Community Fellows Fall Event was a day full of sharing ideas, building connections, and thinking critically about engagement. “It was inspiring to hear about the array of engagement initiatives being led by community organizations serving diverse communities across Canada,” expresses Roma Dhamanaskar, a PhD candidate in the health policy program and PEHP team member. “We hope the rich conversations that took place on the day will carry on as fellows continue to plan, conduct, and evaluate their engagement activities and we wish them and their community organizations the best of luck with their ongoing work!”

View more photos at our image gallery
Photography by Ron Scheffler

The Public Engagement in Health Policy (PEHP) Project is an interdisciplinary initiative based at McMaster University. The PEHP Community Fellowship Program is supported in part by funding from the Future of Canada Project at McMaster University.