Photo of two men exchanging a card.

Planning involves developing a shared vision, mission, and objectives for the effort. It also involves developing an action plan for who will do what to implement planned activities to achieve the intended outcomes.

Key Questions to Consider

  • What are the priority issues identified through assessment and engagement?
  • What is the shared vision, mission, and objectives for this healthy city effort?
  • What particular strategies (changes in programs, policies, practices) do we need to implement to achieve the mission and objectives?
  • How will we adapt promising approaches to fit our context?
  • What is our framework for action (or logic model) showing how the activities to be undertaken will produce the intended outcomes, including with those in vulnerable situations?
  • Who—in which sectors—are best positioned to implement the strategies to achieve results and to reach those most affected?
  • How do we assure mechanisms for participation so that diverse voices can be meaningfully involved in planning?

 

Some Recommended Actions

  1. Based on the assessment and through engagement with partners, identify priority issues to be addressed in the comprehensive action plan, which may include:
    • Attaining Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (e.g., end poverty, end hunger, ensure healthy lives and promote well-being)
    • Controlling diseases (e.g., roadmap for disaster or epidemic response activities)
    • Reducing risk factors for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) (e.g., healthy diets, physical activity)
    • Addressing social determinants of health (i.e., modify differential exposures, vulnerabilities, and consequences for socially excluded groups)
    • Tackling environmental determinants of health (e.g., increasing access to parks, reducing outdoor/indoor air pollution, increasing bike lanes)
    • Promoting healthy settings approaches (e.g., access to quality schools, universities, workplaces, food markets, and health facilities)
    • Implementing safety and human security programs
  2. State the mission (the what and why) and objectives (how much of what you hope to accomplish by when) for the healthy city initiative to address priority issues.
  3. Identity potential strategies to be used in the initiative, including:
    • Evidence-based and practice-based approaches for the issue(s) [See “Resources” section of this Toolkit]
    • Specific changes in communities and systems to be implemented (e.g., changing policies; strengthening services and supports; modifying access, barriers and opportunities)
  4. Convene partners from different sectors and clarify roles and responsibilities for implementing strategies and activities, and establish the organizational structure used to coordinate intersectoral action.
  5. In collaboration, develop a comprehensive plan of action—who will do what by when with what resources—that is based on evidence and practice experience, adapted for the context, and uses resources and community assets needed to move the work forward.
  6. Use social marketing to increase public awareness of identified community health issues, what can be done to address them, and the benefits of taking action together
  7. Apply monitoring and evaluation tools to track progress on implementation of planned activities, and use the information to make adjustments

 

Examples of Planning

A Healthy City for Living

Icon image of Colombia flagMEDELLIN, COLOMBIA

 

In 2012, Medellin set out to transform itself into a healthy city. It assessed its past, reevaluating the achievements and developments of previous efforts and administrations. It studied its present, joining efforts with the University of Antioquia in assessing and planning for a model healthy city.

 

Medellin sought to bring about a model of city living that assures the protection and preservation of life as a fundamental objective. It sees equity as the way to achieve it.

 

One of the five pillars of the management model is Healthy City, a strategy that seeks to promote living with dignity, sustainability, and quality. It plans actions that go beyond the health sector. These efforts have sought to improve its surroundings where people can either gain or lose health. Plans focus on key determinants of health and equity such as the environment, employment, education, housing, and poverty.

 

The Ministry of Health is the lead agency for some activities in the plan. It also coordinates and supports all of the health generating structure of the city, including those activities led by other sectors. This initiative has its own funding. Planning and the development of actions in each sector guides the development of the budget for priority activities.

 

Source:

Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). Health in All Policies in the Americas: Medellin: A Healthy City for Living [Internet]; 2016. Available from: http://saludentodaslaspoliticas.org/en/experiencia-amp.php?id=30

In 2012, Medellin set out to transform itself into a healthy city. It assessed its past, reevaluating the achievements and developments of previous efforts and administrations. It studied its present, joining efforts with the University of Antioquia in assessing and planning for a model healthy city.

 

Medellin sought to bring about a model of city living that assures the protection and preservation of life as a fundamental objective. It saw equity as the way to achieve it.

 

One of the five pillars of the management model is Healthy City, a strategy that seeks to promote living with dignity, sustainability, and quality. It planned actions that went beyond the health sector. These efforts sought to improve the surroundings where people can either gain or lose health. Plans focused on key determinants of health and equity such as the environment, employment, education, housing, and poverty.

 

The Ministry of Health was the lead agency for some activities in the plan. It also coordinated and supported the health-generating structure of the city, including those activities led by other sectors. This initiative had its own funding. Planning and the development of actions in each sector guided the development of the budget for priority goals and activities.

 

Source:

  1. Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). Health in All Policies in the Americas: Medellin: A Healthy City for Living [Internet]; 2016. Available from:http://saludentodaslaspoliticas.org/en/experiencia-amp.php?id=30

Some Resources to Help You Plan

Tools from the Community Tool Box

 

Resources from the World Health Organization/Pan American Health Organization: