Why building capacity matters
Knowledge creates change when people have the capacity to act on it. In this work, without sustained commitment and investment in building workforce capability, even strong evidence will struggle to take root.
For us, capability is about skills, confidence and a shared language that allows practitioners, leaders and organisations to work differently. It’s what brings knowledge from theory into service delivery and is where collective leadership is built.
Working in partnership takes investment, not just in dollars but in relationships, skills, knowledge, culture and process. We provide opportunities for practitioners and services to build those health justice practice skills.
We are committed to working towards a future where services and programs are shaped by lived experience, and to recognising, supporting and learning from First Nations community control and leadership to provide responsive, people-centred services to the people who need them most.
Identifying needs
We know that working in partnership requires people to invest as much in how they work together as what they do together.
Working in partnership is tough work. We see this reflected in the common challenges faced by health justice partnerships across Australia. Our connections with services working in this way gives us unique insight into what is needed to form and sustain effective, purpose-driven collaboration. This, combined with global lessons in partnership, has enabled us to identify and develop tools, resources and training to better equip those working in or hoping to work in partnership.
How we support the sector
Connection and capability are the two central pillars of our work to build and support a confident, cohesive, skilled and engaged national network of health justice partnerships.
Armed with knowledge from global partnering practice and the experience of people working in health justice partnership, we provide mentoring and coaching; practical tools; webinars and conferences; and place-based training and support.
Resilient communities are connected communities; and when working collaboratively towards systems change, practitioners benefit from learning from and supporting each other. That’s why we convene a national network of practitioners working in this way.
In the chaos of establishing an HJP I found it easy to lose sight of the fundamentals… You enabled me to problem solve by making me unpack the various aspects of the problem I was presenting, leading me to come up with solutions and where necessary, providing input from your own experiences. Sometimes I felt challenged by our discussions, but always I felt listened to and supported. I didn’t expect to find establishing the HJP so hard, and I’m not sure I could have actually got through it without a meltdown if not for your fortnightly guidance.
What we do
We’re connecting the evidence, expertise and experiences of a diverse range of professionals, researchers and communities to explore partnership to address inequities in health and justice.
We’re working towards lasting systems change through strategic advocacy toward reforms in policy settings, service design and funding.
