A Canadian Community of Practice in Ecosystem Approaches to Health

1. A Canadian Community of Practice in Ecosystem Approaches to Health Building capacity to address the determinants of health and sustainability Margot Parkes, UBCCollege of Health Disciplines, Dept. Family Practice on behalf of: COPEH-Canada

2. A quick orientation? EcoHealth? (ecosystem approaches to health) determinants of health? Community of Practice? reducing health inequalities/inequities? Collaborative learning?

3. Learning Outcomes (our hopes) At the end of this session you will be • curious about how a community of practice in Ecohealth can build capacity to address the determinants of health and sustainability; • able to identify common ground between ecohealth approaches & strategies to reduce health inequities; • aware of participatory, collaborative research strategies to enhance networking, relationships and capacity building • e.g EcoHealth Training & Awards Scheme.

4. www.copeh-canada.org A Canadian Community of Practice in Ecosystem Approaches to Health (COPEH-Can) with an EcoHealth Training and Awards Program funded by the International Development Research Centre, Canada (IDRC)

5. Ecosystem Approaches to Health? “health and wellbeing are embedded within ecosystems” Cynthia Haq MD, Dept Family Practice, University of Wisconsin

6. A place-based ‘Double dividend’ for Public Health Ecosystems-Health-Social Equity • New generation “settings” for equitable health & sustainability: • watersheds; • landuse & food security; • Indigenous perspectives • rural/urban planning DRIVING FORCES (governance, development & power) different ‘views’ onhealth and sustainability ECO- SYSTEMS SOCIAL SYSTEMS HEALTH Parkes, Panelli & Weinstein, EHP, 2003

7. Ecosystem Approaches to Health • International Development Research Center (Cole, 2006) • Approaches and three Pillars’: • Transdisciplinarity • Participation • Equity (social and gender) e.g. "EcoSalud” in Ecuador: farming communities, researchers, health practitioners & local politicians --> integrated pest management, better recognize and treat poisonings and improve pesticide-related policies. • Building international capacity through ‘Communities of Practice’… • Latin America, Middle East, Africa…. Canada

8. What is a Community of Practice? “Communities of practice are groups of people who have a common interest and are engaged in a shared enterprise, through which they both have, and further develop, a repertoire of knowledge, skills and practices” (Wenger, 1998). • CoPs respond to professional demand and are results oriented. They can serve to develop and evolve knowledge, as well as develop innovative ideas.

9. CoPEH-Canada Objectives • to jointly plan and deliver a ecohealth shortcourse for students and professionals; • to provide a forum for Canadians to consolidate and extend the ecohealth approach through collaboration, exchange, and scholarly attention to methodology, pedagogy and knowledge translation; • to conduct an integrated program of participatory research and evaluation to examine the networking, educational and capacity building outcomes of the community of practice; • to identify and develop strategies for long-term regional and institutional capacity to support ecosystem approaches to human health.

11. policy NGO’s/NFP’s Organisations beyond govt/education sectors researchers Framework for research Establishment of Community of Practice in Ecosystem Approaches to Health • aka • action research • sharing & learning • what works? what doesn’t? how to do better? • equipping a new generation of professsionals Collaborative Relationships (between researchers, policy, NGOs etc) Capacity Building (e.g. Training & Awards Program ) Capacity, values & processes for collaborative Ecohealth research, education, practice

12. Community of Practice in EcoHealth research on Toxics in Latin America & the Caribbean Analysis of social networks & collaborative relationships for sharing and learning (J. Saint-Charles UQAM)

13. At the beginning of the COPEH-TLAC J. Saint-Charles, UAQM

14. Two Years Later A Web of relationships… Touch one strand and it affects them all (Greenwod) J. Saint-Charles, UAQM J. Saint-Charles, UAQM

15. policy NGO’s/NFP’s Organisations beyond govt/education sectors researchers Establishment of Community of Practice in Ecosystem Approaches to Health Collaborative Relationships (between researchers, policy, NGOs etc) Capacity Building (e.g. Training & Awards Program ) Capacity, values & processes for collaborative Ecohealth research, education, practice

16. 1st short course UBC August 5-15 2008 Ontario (3) Environment (2) Human Health (1) Vet/Pop Health (1) Indigenous/Canadian Studies • collaborative approaches to complex health/ environment issues • Community-oriented, case-based learning inside and outside of the classroom, • cultivating knowledge, attitudes & skills for real world scenarios & cases Research focused on: • collaborative curriculum design • collaborative learning • before, during, after course • medium term (<1 yr) • Longer term (>1 yr) • collaborative relationships • Social networking Quebec/PEI (5) Human health (1) Environment (1) Vet/Pop Health (1) Island studies BC, SK, MB (6) Human Health (1) Env/Geography (1) Interdisciplinary Studies (1) Vet/Pop Health (1)Resource Management and Environmental Studies (1) Sociology

17. policy NGO’s/NFP’s Organisations beyond govt/education sectors researchers Establishment of Community of Practice in Ecosystem Approaches to Health Collaborative Relationships (between researchers, policy, NGOs etc) Capacity Building (e.g. Training & Awards Program ) Capacity, values & processes for collaborative Ecohealth research, education, practice

18. A quick orientation(!) EcoHealth? (ecosystem approaches to health) determinants of health? Community of Practice? reducing health inequalities/inequities? Collaborative learning?

19. www.idrc.ca/ecohealth www.copeh-canada.org www.ECOHEALTH.net