Health & Social Equity Collective: Learning Partner Report and Outputs
As part of the next steps of the Health & Social Equity Collective, the Collective received further funding from Impact on Urban Health to engage a Learning Partner. During 2024, The Social Change Agency facilitated conversations with Collective members to reflect on the work done so far and to explore future ways of working together.
This was a valuable opportunity for Collective members to share insights and experiences to enable the learning partner to gain a better understanding of who the Collective is and members involvement (this included attending meetings, workshops and engaging in grant development), as well as exploring questions such as what has gone well, what could have been better, and what unexpected challenges or successes have arisen since being a member.
The findings from this work are captured in the HSE Learning Partner Report – Social Change Agency, which is available to download here.
Storytelling and Collaboration in Practice
Alongside the report, a creative output was developed to bring these insights to life in a more accessible and engaging way. The comic, How to Build a Fishtank – A Story About Working Without Hierarchy, was created in collaboration with WowBagger Productions, The Social Change Agency, and the Health & Social Equity Collective.
The comic introduces the Health & Social Equity Collective as a diverse group of researchers, community leaders, policymakers and health professionals working together to tackle deep-rooted social and health inequities. It highlights the Collective’s shared goals: building a more inclusive and meaningful knowledge base, addressing inequalities in education and professional development, and shifting power by working alongside communities most affected by inequities.
Drawing on conversations with members, the comic uses fictional characters to explore what it feels like to work in non-hierarchical, collaborative ways. It illustrates how different perspectives, needs and approaches come together, and how meaningful collaboration requires listening, compromise and a willingness to experiment. It also reflects the Collective’s commitment to social justice, centring lived experience and moving away from deficit-based narratives towards more human-centred, system-changing solutions.
