The Inscape Project will provide information, support and capacity building for local activists working to improve the health of people in disadvantaged groups and communities.

Through the project we will support community activists to influence local and regional policy initiatives and service developments and work in partnership with others in the statutory and voluntary sectors. Inscape will support community development workers to better enable people within disadvantaged communities to have the opportunity to define and address their specific health needs and to have access to improved social support.

The outcome of the programme will be that more people are equipped to apply community development approaches to health and in the long term secure more active involvement in addressing health inequalities by those most affected by poverty and ill health.

Information
We will produce and circulate a monthly newssheet highlighting current health issues and practice and circulate briefing papers on specific issues or topics for e.g.Community Planning. We will ensure that all materials are jargon free and relevant to current health concerns. We will set up and maintain an Inscape page on the CDHN website incorporating a discussion forum to facilitate ongoing dialogue between participants. We will ensure participants have access to CDHN's specialist library of health information resources and ensure that the library is updated with the most recent policy documents, journals and reports.

Support
We will provide opportunities for networking to enable the development of contacts and sharing of experience between individuals and groups.  Telephone/E-mail support to deal with requests for information about local services and advice on tackling local health issues will also be offered and we will signpost individuals to others who can help with specific queries.

Capacity building
We will organise and deliver a programme of training and other events to enhance the knowledge and skills of community activists who wish to address inequalities in health. The programme will include core topics such as the social model of health, understanding health inequalities, the structure of health and other public services in Northern Ireland, Who's Who in community development and health, and the policy context. The skills development element of the programme will include application of community development approaches to practical health initiatives, developing advocacy and influencing skills, participation in local and regional policy formulation, developing and contributing to partnerships, how to research local health needs and how to evaluate the impact of local health projects.

Inscape will benefit any person or group using a community development approach to take action on health.  This will include geographically based community and voluntary groups working in or providing support to disadvantaged ward areas across NI, community and voluntary groups of people from, or working with, communities of interest in particular children and young people, older people, carers, people with disabilities and black and ethnic minority communities. We will target people new to the community development and health field as well as the more experienced, whether paid or unpaid. 

The networking and training events will be widely spread geographically and there will be a large event in each of the board areas every year.

Click on the events diary for more information or check out CDHN's newsletter Health Bytes and the online Ezine version.

How can you get on the mailing list for invites, Health Bytes, briefing papers, funding information and much more?

Contact Kathy Martin on Tel: 028 3026 4606 or E-mail: kathymartin@cdhn.org with your contact details and get added to CDHN's mailing list.