Why building workforce capability matters
Knowledge leads to change when people have the confidence, skills and support to put it into practice. Without sustained commitment to building workforce capability, even strong evidence can struggle to translate into day-to-day service delivery.
For us, capability is about more than knowledge. It includes the skills, confidence and shared understanding that enable practitioners, leaders and organisations to work differently and more effectively together. It is what helps turn evidence into action and supports collective leadership across services and sectors.
Working in partnership requires investment in relationships, skills, knowledge, culture and ways of working. We provide opportunities for practitioners and services to build the capabilities that support effective partnership approaches.
We are committed to working towards a future where services and programs are shaped by lived experience. We also recognise, support and learn from First Nations leadership and community control to help strengthen responsive, culturally informed and people-centred services for those who need them most.
Identifying needs
Effective partnership depends as much on how people work together as what they work on together.
Partnership work can be complex. Through our work with HJPs across Australia, we see the common opportunities and challenges involved in building and strengthening partnership approaches in practice. 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.
Combined with lessons from HJP and other cross-sector integrated practice internationally, this experience has informed the tools and resources we develop to support people working in, or seeking to set up, health justice partnership.
How we support the sector
Connection and capability are at the centre of our work to support a confident, skilled and connected national community of practitioners across health, legal and social services.
Drawing on global partnership practice and the experience of people working in health justice partnership and other cross-sector integrated approaches, we provide guidance, practical tools and place-based training and support.
Strong partnerships are built through connection. When working towards systems change, practitioners benefit from learning with and from one another, sharing experience and strengthening practice. That’s why we convene a national network of people working, or interested in health justice partnership.
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.
