Colleagues from across GM Moving recently spent two days with national colleagues, sharing, learning and connecting around the of our areas of work: health, CYP and active environments. Niamh Carroll (Research and Evaluation Lead, GM Moving) reflects on what she saw and learned from these collaborations.
It isn’t often we get the opportunity to have so much expertise in one room from across the country and so the last two days have been a brilliant chance to share some of the learning from our work in GM. We’ve also been able to learn from what others are doing and strengthen our understanding of what works to create lasting change across these three areas of work.
Tuesday: A day of connection
Tuesday afternoon was a moment for valuable connection across work that can otherwise be siloed.
We heard from Tom Hall and Claire Lee (APNO), who set the scene from a national perspective, and demonstrated the clear links between these distinct agendas. Local examples from across the country helped to bring this to life. Our team contributed to this through an exploration of CyanLines and the journey our own CYP team have been on to explore their role in creating change.
What felt especially significant was the time we had to reflect on challenges, enablers, and opportunities to collaborate better in the future. It is refreshing to know that many partners, like us, are still perfecting this, and that sometimes we need to turn to each other for support, ideas and inspiration.
Wednesday: A day of alignment and ambition
As Tuesday felt like a key moment for connection, Wednesday was a chance for us to widen the lens even further. With over one hundred and forty people in the room – all pulling towards the same vision in their local areas – the shifts to enable active lives for all started to feel possible and within reach.
The Deputy CMO was quick to remind us of our top priority: We need to understand the barriers that are holding inactivity in place, while recognising that the people that are most deprived that face the biggest health inequalities.
Being in Greater Manchester also felt important, we know this is a place where the conditions for people moving more have shifted rapidly over the last few decades. As the Active Partnership for Greater Manchester, we felt especially proud when Warren Heppolette clearly demonstrated the impact of devolution and intentional leadership in our city-region.
With the growth of Live Well and the Prevention demonstrator, we are seeing the real-time impact of a regional authority which cares about the lives of the people in our places.
Reflections from the GM Moving team
Team members from across GM Moving were in the room throughout the day, listening, learning and connecting with colleagues.
Imogen Hall, Project Lead Health:
“Today I saw how strongly our work supports a focus on prevention, collaboration, and place. Through talking through initiatives like the Active Practice Charter, I’ve gained a better understanding of how to identify key community assets and how we can collaborate better to build on them as a platform for physical activity.”
Hayley Lever, Greater Manchester Moving CEO:
“When I think back to the first event of this kind, I can see how far things have come. The relationships between colleagues, the maturing and deepening of the conversation and the momentum that is building.
The day was a great reminder about the importance of staying focussed on the overall mission and goal- even (and especially) when the context and conditions keep changing.
When national policy meets local need – and helps with where the place is going, it is powerful. There is a great deal of alignment now- from the health, physical activity and sport sectors, and from national to local with the Four Ways Forward, the 10 Year Plan, neighbourhood approaches, and Sport England’s emerging priorities all aligned to and supporting local strategies and priorities.
To paraphrase what Warren said in closing his speech- if we listen deeply to communities and what they say and unlock the potential for people across sectors to play their part, we will unleash energy and contributions towards our goal of active lives for all.
It’s a very exciting time”.
Christine Bland, Strategic Lead Children and Young People:
“The passion and appetite to connect Children & Young People’s Health into conversations, processes and planning was tangible. Magic happens when we talk, and this session was a brilliant example of listening, learning, aligning, prioritising and building relationships. This is only the start of the journey and we are very much forward to ‘what next’, we all have a role to play.”
How this collaboration impacts Greater Manchester
Whilst the work across the two days had a national focus, it is clear where the connection to Greater Manchester lies.
Throughout the day there was a clear articulation of the NHS 4 Ways Forward, this mirrors what we are trying to at GM Moving – highlighting where our partners work embodies these desired ways of working.
We have made significant progress in GM to support the workforce through initiatives like Active Practices, PACC and Better Conversations. It was fantastic to see this referred to by panellists as a key catalyst to creating change.
Spending two days with system partners gave me a real sense of how much we can achieve in Greater Manchester when we collaborate well. I left inspired by the work, proud of the progress and I’m excited to see how our shared ambitions will continue to take shape.
Were you there on the day, or want to follow up with GM Moving about this work?
Please get in touch with our Strategic Lead for Health Inequalities, Kate Harding, so we can continue this progress together.
