Well London: communities working together for a healthier city

Change Management

The Well London project began in 2007 when the BIG Lottery Fund awarded the London Health Commission and its six partners £9.46m to deliver Well London.

The project was made up of the following seven organizations that formed the Well London Alliance partnership:

London Health Commission – hosted by the Greater London Authority
Arts Council England – London
Central YMCA
Groundwork London
London Sustainability Exchange (LSx)
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM)
University of East London (UEL)

This partnership foccused on supporting local action. Each partner had their own area of expertise that was integrated into project activity on the ground.

20 target areas
All 20 first wave target communities were defined by lower super output area (LSOA) which each have around 1.500 to 2,000 residents. All 20 LSOAs were selected from amongst the 11% most deprived in London. The LSOAs were situated in the following 20 London boroughs:

Barking and Dagenham Brent Camden Croydon Ealing Enfield Greenwich Hackney Hammersmith and Fulham Haringey	Houslow Islington Kensington and Chelsea Lambeth Lewisham Newham Southwark Tower Hamlets Waltham Forest Westminster

An extensive consultation and needs assessment using a significant sample of community actors was launched (CADBE project). The consultation identified the specific needs, desires and priorities of each community.

The consultation included community cafes (based on the World Cafe Concept), community action workshops (using appreciative enquiry methodology), and street interviews and focus groups. The findings were incorporated into the Well London design – ensuring that the communities co-designed (and later co-delivered) the projects.

The consultation highlighted the following issues.

Residents had poor dietary habits. Takeaway food was widely consumed and available cheap food available was of poor quality. There was insufficient knowledge of what constituted a healthy diet and a general lack of motivation to eat healthily. Also elders were inhibited from accessing the right foods due to problems with mobility and fear of crime.
Barriers to adequate physical activity within communities existed due to poor community security and lack of open space, Perception of a lack of sports activity in school, and costs of access to activities and gyms were too high for local residents.
Mental health and well being - On the composite index of mental health 15 of the target communities are among the 20% worst affected. Problems occurred because young people lacked affordable recreational facilities and things to do that resulted in high levels of drug and alcohol use, teenage pregnancy and crime. One community member highlighted this problem when saying: ‘Youngsters need to be amused, and occupied, or they feel worthless’. Amongst the elderly, issues surrounded isolation and lack of social networks. This generates depression and compounds fear of crime resulting in a worsening cycle of less physical activity, community participation, poor diet and further isolation. (This cycle is outlined in the model below - click to enlarge)

Projects

The Well London Project consisted of 14 projects. Six ‘Heart of the Community’ projects sought to increase community participation, volunteering, skills and capacity. Eight ‘Themed’ projects working on physical activity, healthy eating, mental well-being, improved ‘healthy’ spaces and culture and tradition. Here is a outline of each project:

‘Heart of the community’ projects

‘Themed’ projects

CADBE research and evaluation framework run by the University of East London

Youth.community – ensuring that children and young people were included in the projects.

Well London Delivery teams – recruited in each of the 20 Well London areas. They received training in outreach and health promotion. They then encouraged local residents to take up service and activities that promote health and wellbeing. They were also fed back to service delivery organizations enabling them to be more responsive.

Training communities – that plans and delivers training for community members to support project delivery

Wellnet – established a learning network for communities and professional – with learning shared via e-bullitins, events, and case studies

Active Living Map – used GIS technology to produce web based maps bringing together a broad range of wellbeing opportunities available to each community

Be Creative, Be Well arts and cultural activity to engage communities to create change, improve environments and provide accessible physical activities.

Buywell and Eatwell – seeking to increase rates of healthy eating, improving access to healthy food, and promoting community celebration of good food.

DIY Happiness using humour and creativity to provide practical advice and information to increase people’s ability to recover from physical and psychological adversity

Mental well-being impact assessment that allow stakeholders to identify programmes’ potential impacts on mental well-being.

Changing Minds that recruits and trains local people with experience of mental ill health to deliver mental health awareness training.

Healthy Spaces that made physical improvements to local environments involving the local community throughout.

Activate London that sought to increase physical activity levels through increasing the range of sport and recreation activities available and community awareness.

About this case study

performance indicators

costs and savings

learning points

further information

Main Contact

Alison Pearce

Well London Programme Manager

Email:

Alison.Pearce@london.gov.uk

Frankie Hine-Hughes, project manager of Governance International, compiled this case study on 31 August 2011