If you’re looking for guidance on developing an MOU for your health justice partnership, you’ve come to the right place. In this practice tip, we’ll discuss the benefits of having a documented agreement and what you should consider when creating one. We’ll also share a free downloadable toolkit and MOU template you can use and adapt for your health justice partnership.
But first a gentle reminder – an MOU in itself does not a partnership make.
Starting with a conversation is the most important part.
Documenting a shared understanding of what you will do as a partnership and how you will do it is useful – but valuing and making time for partnership discussions, which lead to the shared understanding, is actually the most important part.
When entering into a health justice partnership, having the conversations to establish a shared understanding about your purpose, the contribution partners make to that purpose, as well as your partnership’s values, expectations and available resources is fundamental to partnership success. While this takes time and intention, it’s worth persisting. It will not only set strong foundations for your partnership, it will also see you through the challenges you’re likely to need to navigate. These may include onboarding new staff, managing change (keeping the culture/container of the partnership going beyond workforce turnover) or monitoring change (by regularly focussing and reviewing how you partner with one another, and updating the document accordingly).
There’s no one ‘right’ way
The way that you choose to document your partnership’s shared understanding is up to you – as long as it’s written somewhere that all partners can access and it’s kept alive and relevant via regular review at partnership meetings.
Whatever format you land on, keep in mind that there is no one right way. Your partnership agreement should be true to your partnership and be adapted to meet the needs of the community your partnership is there to help. And if you’d like that to be in the form of an MOU, then yes, we have an MOU template to help!
What's included in the toolkit?
We created this free downloadable resource in response to HJP practitioners asking for guidance on developing an MOU. In this document, you’ll find:
- A guide on MOUs for health justice practitioners
- A checklist to help make sure you have everything in order as you work your way through the MOU for your health justice partnership
- An MOU template for health justice partnership
