Who is involved in Healthy
Christchurch?
Healthy Christchurch is an intersectoral initiative that is
based on the idea that all sectors and groups have a role to play
in creating a healthy city, whether their specific focus is
recreation, employment, youth, environmental enhancement, transport
or any other aspect of city life.
Healthy
Christchurch was initiated and sponsored by large organisations
operating within the city. In order to foster genuine
collaboration and inclusiveness, groups and agencies were
approached and invited to become involved in shaping the Healthy
Christchurch initiative from the earliest phase. Over 150 groups
and organisations expressed an interest in joining together to work
for a healthy city.
Go to the A-Z of
Healthy Christchurch signatories.
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Development of the Healthy Christchurch
Charter
The draft Healthy Christchurch Charter was developed through a
series of workshops and hui. The draft was circulated widely for
comments and was subsequently amended slightly. It is a starting
point for developing our relationship, based on shared values and
mutual respect.
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Signing up to the Healthy Christchurch
Charter
Any group, organisation, network or business with a commitment
to the health and wellbeing of Christchurch people can be involved
in Healthy Christchurch.
The Charter does
not create any legal relationship between signatories but sets out
signatories' mutual intentions to work together for a Healthy
Christchurch.
Healthy Christchurch recognises that each signatory has a
defined mandate, whether it be statutory or otherwise, with respect
to its own responsibilities and has a range of activities that it
may continue to do independently. The charter applies to those
activities where signatories agree they can achieve better outcomes
by working together.
It's not too late to sign the Charter. Contact Healthy
Christchurch if you want to know more.
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What signatories can contribute to Healthy
Christchurch
Signatories
will contribute to Healthy Christchurch according to their means
and agree to meet every 6 months to address issues of mutual
concern, develop priorities and plan cross-sectoral and
inter-agency strategies. Signatories will offer what they can
towards Healthy Christchurch and groups can contribute differently.
For instance they can contribute staff time, equipment, money, or
offer their expertise and experience.
The groups who initially signed the Charter wrote the first
action plan and outlined the priorities and practical projects for
Healthy Christchurch in 2002.
A series of workshops brainstormed and prioritised collaborative
projects to be carried out under the Healthy Christchurch banner.
Healthy Christchurch involves biannual forums for all signatories,
a number of largely self-managing project groups, focus groups on
specific issues and occasional speaker meetings and debates.
Signatory groups may be involved in all or any of these according
to their interests and time commitments. There will be a small
coordinating group to ensure that information is available to all
signatories and to undertake any employment responsibilities the
Initiative may have.
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The outcomes of Healthy Christchurch
Healthy Christchurch has become a major vehicle for enabling
cooperation between agencies to improve health and wellbeing across
population groups. Signatory forums provide a useful means of
consultation, training and debate. Signatories prioritise a variety
of collaborative projects which promote wellbeing, whether these
focus on environmental, economic or social aspects of life in
Christchurch.
Many successful projects have been completed since the official
Healthy Christchurch launch in February 2002, including researching
what constitutes a genuine 'living' wage for local workers and
encouraging its implementation; including in Christmas food parcels
to 800 disadvantaged children and their families toothbrushes and
fluoridated toothpaste as part of a wider programme being planned
to address the complex issues which make tooth decay a real problem
for many Christchurch families; and compiling a comprehensive
health information directory for schools. Early in 2005, Healthy
Christchurch sponsored a consultation forum around Community
Outcomes as the forerunner to the Long Term Council Community Plan
for Christchurch which will be revised later in the year.
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The relationship between the Ottawa Charter
and Te Tiriti O Waitangi
The attendees at the Charter development workshops and hui
stressed the fundamental importance of two documents to the Healthy
Christchurch porcess: the Treaty of Waitangi and the Ottawa
Charter. Many groups already structure their work in response to
these documents and felt any local document should reflect
this.
Healthy Cities and the Ottawa Charter
Healthy Cities is a World Health Organisation initiative,
launched in 1986, that attempts to address broad community issues
and has been the major platform for addressing urban health in
World Health Organisation's "Health for All" policy.
Healthy Cities is based on principles identified in the Ottawa
Charter for Health Promotion 1986, which include:
- Health is a social rather than purely a health sector
matter;
- Many factors influence our health, from individual
characteristics, to health services, to social, economic and
environmental factors.
- Health is the responsibility of all city services;
- Health is an outcome of collaboration between community
members, planners and providers of public and private sector
services
The Ottawa Charter identifies the following prerequisites for
health: peace, shelter, education, food, income, a stable
eco-system, sustainable resources, social justice and equity and
identifies five key action strategies to promote health: build
healthy public policy; create supportive environments; strengthen
community action; develop personal skills; re-orient health
services.
Te Tiriti O Waitangi
Te Tiriti o Waitangi is the founding document of Aotearoa - New
Zealand and central to health promotion in this country. The
provisions of the Treaty drawn from the three articles are:
- Kawanatanga - closest English word is governance
- Tino rangatiratanga - Māori control and self determination
- Oritetanga - Equality
The Health Promotion Forum of New Zealand has
facilitated the development of the TUHA-NZ Memorandum (A Treaty
Understanding of Hauora in Aotearoa-New Zealand). TUHA-NZ was
developed to give a practical understanding about how the Treaty of
Waitangi can be applied in a meaningful and practical way by health
promoters in Aotearoa - New Zealand.
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The Future of Healthy Christchurch
The future direction and activities of Healthy Christchurch are
determined by the groups that have signed the Charter. To be
successful, they need to be shaped by everybody.
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