Project details

Start date: 2023
Status: Finished
Duration: 12 months
Country: Netherlands
Participatory Action Researcher(s):

Hedwig Leijten
Hester Wachtmeester

Sustainable Development Goals

Project

Further development of the Community of Care Midden-Gelderland

Further development of the Community of Care Midden-Gelderland

The Community of Care is a cross-domain learning network and a partnership between parties that have been working since 2019 to promote the health and well-being of residents in the Central Gelderland region. These are parties that are doing good work in the field of prevention, but can do even better by joining forces. The network has a learning, initiating, and emergent role and is a growing ecosystem, springboard, breeding ground, and incubator for coalitions and transformative projects.

The network operates based on four values (equal opportunities, diversity, development, and connection) and promotes these both within and outside the network. For examples of results and lessons learned, see the infographic.

Project team

Situation

In 2019, the network was set up by professionals from the healthcare and welfare sector. In 2023, the subsidy expired and, unfortunately, a new subsidy was not forthcoming. Initially, this was a major disappointment. However, this was also when Participatory Action Research came into the picture. PAO was already included in the new plans for the network, but without the subsidy, these plans could not be implemented. At that point, PAO was used to investigate the network’s continued existence. Hedwig Leijten and Hester Wachtmeester conducted the research as part of an internship assignment for the PAR Practitioners Program of Sevens Senses.

PAR Design

PAR-goal

Original PAR-goal

Partners jointly create plans and activities for cooperation among themselves and with the target group (all parties involved in the chain collaborations) for the three-year subsidy period that follows.

PAR Goal after subsidy rejection

The partners jointly create plans and activities on how mutual cooperation can be further developed, so that cooperation with the target group around chain approaches can be resumed at a later date.

Methods

Everyone was interviewed and the network was unanimous. The mood was clear: we want to continue and we think this is important. What’s more, the network also made everyone’s own work more enjoyable. The sessions resulted in a plan, and the partners wrote a letter to administrators in the region with the key message. The letter helped; the organizations support the network with money and recognize how important it is. We were very pleased with this outcome: subsidies are temporary, but this support in the region is also very valuable in the long term.

For the new phase, three dialogue sessions were held to gather perspectives from all partners in the network on how we could move forward. This question was not only put to the core partners who applied for the subsidy, but also to the other partners in the network in order to mobilize as much thinking and creative power as possible. The dialogue rounds yielded a great deal of input. All this input was analyzed and a focus group was designed based on the results.

The initial analysis and findings revealed a clear picture of a network collaboration that was considered very valuable by the participants, but was not (yet) sufficiently visible to the outside world. This gave rise to the image of a hidden treasure. This image was developed into a visual and placed in context (see project images).

Impact

The network-oriented partnership in the Midden-Gelderland region now receives financial contributions from the region through other channels, and there is greater support for it. PAO has given the network a new impetus.

This outcome was not immediately clear at the end of this PAO internship in August 2024. Later, however, the outcome could be described more clearly:

  • More than €150,000 has been raised from 10 municipalities in central Gelderland and healthcare and welfare organizations in the region, such as GGZ, Ziekenhuis, GGD, VVT, SWOA, Rijnstad, and Proscoop.
  • There are also organizations and initiatives that have contributed with knowledge and manpower, such as HAN and Health Valley.

The financial contribution yielded significant results:

  • Greater visibility
  • Better anchoring and support in the region
  • Strengthening ownership in the network
  • Collaboration with the Positive Health Movement Central Gelderland
  • Moving towards alignment with the regional plan to strengthen the transformation towards greater health and well-being in the region as a learning network

Project images