Joining Hands for a Healthy Future: Insights for Integrating Community Participation in Intersectoral Collaboration for Planetary Health
In September 2024, The George Institute and NIHR Centre for NCDs and Environmental Change co-hosted a roundtable discussion titled "Insights for Integrating Community Participation in Intersectoral Collaboration for Planetary Health."
The briefing document provides context for the event and outlines seven guiding principles for advancing participatory planetary health research, policy, and practice. These principles were developed based on presentations by our distinguished speakers and the valuable discussions that took place. A summary of these principles is provided below.
- Community-centred governance drives community-centred solutions: embedding participatory methodologies, governance structures within both new and existing planetary health research programs can encourage and empower community voices, ensuring interventions developed align with community-articulated priorities. It is also important for holding teams accountable for staying true to those priorities.
- Equitable partnerships should reflect a variety of perspectives: Complex environmental problems, typically have multiple dimensions, and we must view this 'wicked problem' from a variety of perspectives, most importantly by listening to those most affected, if we are to build a more comprehensive and informed collective understanding of how to address it. Multidimensional problems require multidisciplinary teams that include representatives from a wide range of perspectives and expertise.
- Innovative design is required to 'think outside the box': Communities are not homogenous entities, and research methodologies must adapt accordingly. Beyond traditional research methodologies, research teams must identify novel, creative and culturally sensitive approaches when working with communities, fostering environments that allows individuals to share their experiences without fear of retribution and judgement.
- Capacity building is for everyone involved: As the environment rapidly changes and we move closer to breaking planetary boundaries, there is a growing chasm of unknowns. Knowledge exchange between community members, academics, government bodies, professionals, and activists are imperative so that we learn from each-other and collectively build capacity across the evidence to policy ecosystem to tackle planetary health challenges together.
- Equity and Inclusivity are non-negotiable: Planetary degradation amplifies inequity. Research teams must recognise and work towards addressing this by promoting the involvement of diverse populations, especially traditionally marginalised or high-risk groups, whose voices are too often unheard and not reflected in one-size-fits-all policy approaches. This includes First Nations and Tribal peoples, women and girls, and young people, older persons among others. Inequity will be reduced only when inclusivity takes centre stage in collective action.
- Put lived experience at the centre of evidence-based policy and advocacy: Lived experience is an essential source of evidence for planetary health policy and advocacy strategies. Ensuring appropriate means are in place to collect lived experience that balance sensitivity with technical rigour is imperative. Translation of lived experience should be transparent, holding policymakers accountable for explaining how this form of knowledge and experience has been used to inform policy.
- Share successes (and failures): There is an urgent need to build a repository of what works (and what does not!) in participatory planetary health intervention and implementation. We must share examples of community-driven planetary health interventions that are effective, efficient, and sustainable to fast-track collective knowledge generation, evidence-based policies and practices around the world.
