HIA e-News - Ministry of Health

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HIA e-News The Email Newsletter for HIA Practitioners in New Zealand Issue 25, January 2010

In This Issue

Dear Reader,

Profile: Emma Walsh & Jacqui Barnes from the Hastings District Council on Council's Role in the Graffiti Vandalism Strategy HIA

Nau mai, haere mai ki te HIA e-News.

Council Develops ‘Community

Welcome to the January 2010 issue of HIA e-news.

Wellbeings Checklists’ The Manukau Built Form and Spatial Structure Plan HIA Learning by Doing Update: Looking to an exciting year ahead Exciting Training Opportunities Announcement: New Zealand to host the Asia & Pacific Regional HIA Conference Upcoming HIA Training & Conferences Resources of Interest

Quick Links Ministry of Health HIA Support Unit Website: Ministry of Health HIA Support Unit

Happy New Year to you all! Hopefully you had time to relax over the Christmas period and enjoy some sun wherever you were. If you were in the Wellington region like us, you’re probably still waiting for the sun. In this issue, we present a fresh approach to engaging with councils by looking at an example of how local government has been involved in HIA (see Emma Walsh’s & Jacqui Barnes’ profile), what local government is doing to develop HIA (see article on ‘Community Wellbeings Checklists’), and how local government is commissioning HIA (see the Manukau article). It is a responsibility of local government to look after community wellbeing and HIA is one way of assisting with that. This year is gearing up to yield another fruitful HIA harvest. Thanks to the Learning by Doing Investment, there are a number of HIAs already on the go and other ones planned to start (see the learning by Doing Update). Also, read about the announcement that New Zealand is hosting the Asia and Pacific Regional HIA Conference near the end of the year. The Summer School HIA training is not far away and we are looking forward to training new HIA practitioners and extending the skills of those who already have some HIA

Health, Wellbeing & Equity Impact Assessment Unit (HIA Research Unit): Health, Wellbeing & Equity Impact Assessment Unit

PHAC HIA Publications: PHAC HIA Publications

experience. Also, check out the free HIA training in Auckland and Greymouth in March! On behalf of our team, we wish you all the best for the year ahead and hope our paths will cross at some stage over the year! Remember we appreciate your feedback, so feel free to get in touch with any suggestions or comments you have about HIA e-News. Robert Quigley, Quigley and Watts Ltd. Matt Soeberg and Christine Stewart, Ministry of Health HIA Support Unit

Welcome to HIA e-News funded by the Ministry of Health (MoH). This bi-monthly newsletter is a way of keeping people up to date with the latest developments in health impact assessment in New Zealand and abroad.

Profile: Emma Walsh & Jacqui Barnes from the Hastings District Council on the Graffiti Vandalism Strategy HIA

Hastings District Council has worked with the Hawke's Bay District Health Board (DHB) on two Health Impact Assessments (HIAs): the Flaxmere Urban Development Framework and the Graffiti Vandalism Strategy 2008. We, Emma Walsh and Jacqui Barnes, were the lead Council Officers in the HIA process for the Graffiti Vandalism Strategy. In this article we describe the HIA from the Council's perspective; how the Council got involved, its role in the HIA, benefits for the Council, and how the HIA added value to the Graffiti Vandalism Strategy. We finish with our advice for other councils. How Hastings District Council got involved with the HIA In 2008, the DHB approached Council to do an HIA on our draft Graffiti Vandalism Strategy. The Graffiti Vandalism Strategy was developed to coordinate current operations, widen the current approach to graffiti reduction and endorse initiatives and funding applications. As it was acknowledged removal of graffiti alone does not decrease the incidence of graffiti vandalism, the Strategy focuses on prevention and reactive approaches. The Strategy also advocates for a community response to the issue. Although we had some understanding of the HIA purpose and process we were initially unsure how relevant it could be to our Graffiti Vandalism Strategy. The creation of the causal pathways greatly assisted our understanding, as did our continuous self-questioning: "how will this goal or action contribute to health and wellbeing?" Hastings District Council's role in the HIA Even though the DHB conducted the HIA, our involvement was significant and it was more time consuming than we expected. Due to our eagerness for the Strategy to be adopted by Council, we established tight timeframes which I'm sure didn't help the stress levels of the DHB staff! In hindsight, it may not have been necessary to conduct a full HIA on the Graffiti Vandalism Strategy; however, if we had undertaken an abridged HIA, we would not have had the advantage of the Literature Review. The Literature Review has provided us with necessary evidence to support the goals and actions within the Strategy. It has also been a useful reference for other work within Council (in particular we utilised information in the Literature Review to support our Litter Reduction Strategy 2009). In future if a full HIA is to be undertaken we would establish more realistic timeframes and even over-estimate how long the process

should take. Benefits of the HIA for Hastings District Council One of the main benefits of the HIA was the robust consultation and analysis it provided. If it wasn't for the HIA we certainly would not have pulled together a group of taggers to ask their opinion! Nor would we really have considered the potential consequences of the Strategy on the taggers. In order to minimise the incidence of tagging, it was necessary to find out why people tag in the first place. The reasons vary and therefore responses must be varied. Consulting with taggers and then viewing the Strategy from this perspective contributed to a well-rounded document with a good balance of enforcement, education and community engagement. The HIA also provided us with some innovative consultation tools - consulting a group of taggers required a very different approach from that required to consult with Police and community groups! How the HIA added value to the Graffiti Vandalism Strategy Ultimately the HIA process has added value to our Graffiti Vandalism Strategy. It was heartening to know that on the whole our draft Strategy was considered favourable and few changes were recommended. This was particularly reassuring when we presented to the Strategy to Council for adoption. Implementation of the Strategy has been occurring for over a year now. We are already reaping the rewards of the Strategy; just recently we have seen a number of taggers arrested as a result of objectives within the Strategy which encourage regular communication and sharing of information between the Police and Council. Our advice to other Councils Our advice to other Councils is to take the opportunity and embrace the experience, but not to underestimate the time and commitment required. Be prepared to defend the process as it may appear bureaucratic with an inordinate amount of time involved, particularly for a project which many people may deem will have a positive outcome regardless! For us, the Graffiti Vandalism Strategy was likely to have a positive impact regardless of the HIA, but it was certainly strengthened by the HIA process. The full HIA is available from the Ministry of Health HIA Support Unit. Emma Walsh (Community Development Manager) & Jacqui Barnes (Environment Enhancement Officer), Hastings District Council

Development of ‘Community Wellbeings Checklists’

The Western Bay of Plenty District Council, in conjunction with the Bay of Plenty District Health Board and another council, has developed Community Wellbeing Checklists to enhance the social, cultural, environmental and economic wellbeing in local government planning. Background One of the key purposes of the Local Government Act (2002) is for local authorities to promote the social, cultural, environmental and economic wellbeing (the 'four wellbeings') of their communities. The ways and the extent to which each local authority focuses on each of the 'four wellbeings' varies for a range of reasons including political and historical factors, local needs and population, and operational priorities. Another reason can be the lack of tools available to enable planners, policy analysts and project managers to routinely consider the 'four well beings' in their planning. Following HIA training, which was delivered through Quigley and Watts Ltd, the Western Bay of

Plenty District Council, in conjunction with the Bay of Plenty District Health Board and another council, met to explore how HIA could be applied to work within the councils. The process of screening and HIA's focus on the determinants of health, which equates with the broad focus of the 'four wellbeings', proved to be particularly useful. About the Community Wellbeing Checklists Two checklists were then developed and piloted to enable the Western Bay of Plenty District Council to better address the 'four wellbeings' in its planning processes. The purposes of the wellbeing checklists are to:  

encourage consideration of the potential impacts of a project, process or plan on the social, economic, cultural or environmental wellbeing of the community identify actions that can be incorporated into the scoping and development stages of a policy, process or project to address the potential negative impacts or strengthen the positive impacts, including consideration for more in-depth assessments e.g. HIA, EIA etc.

One checklist is for the scoping stage and another for the draft stage of a policy/project. The focus at the scoping stage is to actively encourage staff to consider how the project/policy can contribute to the 'four wellbeings'. Indicators of each of the wellbeings have been identified to act as prompts (e.g. social and community networks, links with local marae and cultural resources, resource sustainability etc) to consider in relation to the potentially affected groups within the population e.g. Māori, young people etc. At the draft stage of the project the focus is on the potential impact of the project/policy on the 'four wellbeings' and whether there is a need to undertake more in-depth impact assessments. Developing the Community Wellbeing Checklists The checklists were developed jointly with the Bay of Plenty District Health Board and another neighbouring council by reviewing many similar tools that have been developed internationally, and consulting with people experienced in undertaking HIA's locally i.e. Ministry of Health, Quigley and Watts Ltd, Christchurch City Council, and applying this information to suit each council’s needs. Current use of the Checklists The checklists are currently in the process of being integrated with both councils online project planning systems. Staff undertaking high priority projects are required to use the checklists and staff undertaking all other relevant projects are encouraged to use the checklists. Outcomes and factors contributing to the Checklists' success so far The training, development and piloting of the checklists took place in 2009, so assessing the effectiveness of the checklists is still in its early days. Nonetheless, some learnings and factors that have contributed to their success so far include: Factors contributing to the success so far...    

two Western Bay of Plenty District Council councillors participated in the HIA training and supported HIA a senior manager at the Western Bay of Plenty District Council supported HIA Christchurch City Council and East Gippsland Shire Council freely shared their work and learnings the checklist has been integrated into council processes for ease of use and so it

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becomes part of daily business using the term 'community wellbeing' rather than 'health’. Many people perceive ’health’ to be about hospitals, diseases and illnesses support from the Ministry of Health's HIA Support Unit and Quigley and Watts in encouraging us to give it a go, and providing constructive feedback and contacts. the public health experience of the staff member who led the work.

Outcomes so far...   

increased collaboration between the council and the local district health board increased collaborative planning internally by staff working with other staff or departments they may not have ordinarily done so council staff seeing value in using the checklists

For the future The use of the checklists will be monitored and evaluated and we hope to have another article in HIA e-News later in the year about how the checklists have been used and their effectiveness, or otherwise. Our next steps include:  raising awareness and supporting the use of the checklists internally  exploring other uses for the checklists e.g. as an aid in council decision making, iwi or hapu planning etc  exploring ways to quantify or provide benchmarks and standards for each of the indicators. For more information about the checklist please phone me on (07) 579 6707 or email me: [email protected]

Liz Davies, Western Bay of Plenty District Council

The Manukau Built Form and Spatial Structure Plan HIA

In late 2008, Manukau City Council, through Manukau the Healthy City, commissioned an HIA of the Manukau Built Form and Spatial Structure Plan (BF&SSP). The HIA was funded by the Ministry of Health's Learning by doing Fund, and undertaken by Synergia Ltd, working in partnership with Hapai te Hauora Tapui Ltd. The HIA was completed in June 2009, and endorsed by Manukau City Council in late 2009. The BF&SSP was centred on the long-term development of the Manukau City centre. Background to the Manukau HIA With the majority of New Zealanders now residing in cities, one of the fundamental challenges is to build, re-build, or retrofit urban environments that counter 40 years of urban planning which has treated cars and public interest as one and the same. Although the private car has undeniably increased individual mobility, the car-oriented basis of urban planning has, at the same time, eroded the ability for people to live an active lifestyle in their local environments. Creating and sustaining urban environments that actively promote health are a key issue for planners and policy-makers. Manukau City Council recognised the arrangement of streets, open

spaces, and transport corridors in relation to the topography of the landscape can have implications for accessibility, safety, environmental sustainability, cultural creativity, and economic prosperity. This is why the Council undertook the HIA on the Manukau Built Form and Spatial Structure Plan. Focus of the HIA The HIA focused on the following four themes:    

Accessibility - To identify opportunities for increasing accessibility so visitors and residents can reach services, amenities and facilities that support healthy living. Active Transport and Mobility - To identify opportunities for embedding active modes of transport within Manukau City centre, and enhance access and mobility, particularly for disadvantaged groups and people with disabilities. Safety - To identify opportunities to ensure optimal safety of residents and visitors within the city centre. Liveability and vitality of area - To identify opportunities to improve the social, cultural, and environmental character of Manukau City to create a healthy city.

These themes were explored through stakeholder discussions at three consultation workshops: a mainstream workshop with a variety of interested organisations; a workshop with Māori stakeholders, and a children's consultation meeting held at a local primary school. The consultation revealed significant support for the changes to the environment proposed under the BF&SSP. However, achieving those changes required agreement on the implementation of the Plan's vision for the future that would create a more walkable city centre and support a diversity of uses beyond its retail dominance. Main outcomes of the HIA: 

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A central finding of the HIA was that the long-term development of the Manukau City centre area should be focused on ensuring accessibility for families and people with disabilities. Doing so would support the development of an environment that is accessible and health promoting for all population groups. There was strong support for better provision of open space in the city centre area, including improving the safety and accessibility of Hayman Park, and the revitalisation of the Puhinui Stream. The HIA was an important process in building relationships and collective action between health interests and urban design. The HIA is also informing further urban design initiatives in council, most immediately the Public Domain Manual, by providing principles to guide development of open spaces in the central city area. The HIA challenged historic assumptions of city planning and design, and posed the question of how the city centre, with an expected population of 10,000 people, could come to life. The direct engagement of Māori through a whānau ora workshop, brought valuable perspectives not explored through mainstream consultation. Although Manukau City Council will become part of the new Super-City in late 2010, the HIA provided a reference point for concerns and aspirations of the future of the city centre area.

Accessing the HIA reports and more information about the HIA The HIA reports are available on the Ministry of Health's HIA Support Unit webpage. For more information please phone Angela O'Carroll at Manukau Healthy Cities on (09) 262 8900 ext 8471 or email: angela.o'[email protected]. Adrian Field, Synergia

Learning by Doing Update: Looking to an exciting year ahead

Round Three of the HIA Support Unit's Learning by Doing Investment shows great promise in encouraging an increase in the breadth of HIA and Whānau Ora HIA activities, and in developing relationships between the health and non-health sectors in New Zealand. Six of the HIA activities in the 2009/10 period involve local government agencies and health working together: three on transport, two on alcohol, and one on urban planning. These are:      

a transport strategy HIA in the Waikato a transport strategy HIA in Canterbury a transport HIA in Dunedin a spatial structure plan HIA in Manukau (Wiri) an alcohol HIA in Northland an alcohol HIA in the Wairarapa.

The transport strategy HIAs in Waikato and Canterbury are both being led by the respective regional councils and will be conducted on aspects of the Regional Land Transport Strategy for each region. These HIAs represent important opportunities to assess the links between transport, health determinants and health outcomes as well as managing shared effective outcomes. This also applies to the transport HIA on the speed of traffic in the city which is to be led by the Dunedin City Council. The influence of urban planning on health determinants and health outcomes is the basis for the HIA to be conducted in Manukau on a spatial structure plan. The two alcohol HIAs will be led by local Public Health Units. Local government will be important partners as they have the responsibility for the alcohol policy and strategy. Both HIA's aim to support the development and implementation of local government alcohol policy and strategy by informing the decision making processes. The other HIA/WOHIA to be funded by the Learning by Doing Investment over the 2009/10 period are:    

a WOHIA on DHB prioritisation policy in Northland a WOHIA on an integrated Whānau Ora centre in Taranaki a WOHIA training project in Auckland and Northland an HIA training project in Christchurch and the West Coast

The Request for Proposal process for Round Three of the Learning by Doing Investment closed on October 5th 2009. Thirteen proposals were received including:     

three from local government six from a DHB or PHU two from a Māori provider one from a Pacific provider one from a tertiary institution.

Of the 13 proposals reviewed by the proposal evaluation panel, the panel recommended nine to proceed to the contract negotiation phase. The panel provided feedback on the remaining four proposals as to why they weren't funded and suggested other avenues in their region or district to access HIA and Whānau Ora HIA support. Now the contracts are in place and the New Year has started, the HIA activities are all starting to gear up for action. They will be conducted over the coming year, and we will keep you up to date

with progress and any key dates. We will also make the HIA reports and evaluations available on the HIA Support Unit website as they become available. Christine Stewart & Matt Soeberg, Ministry of Health HIA Support Unit

Exciting Training Opportunities HIA Summer School Training - It's not too late! Develop your public health knowledge and skills at the largest and longest running public health Summer School in the Southern Hemisphere. The Department of Public Health is part of the University of Otago, Wellington. It aims to contribute to the good health of all New Zealanders through independent, critical and innovative research, teaching and community service. The Department's staff and collaborators have expertise in a wide range of academic disciplines and have strong links with national and regional health agencies. Click here for details of the HIA courses and enrolment information ___________________________________________________________________ Auckland Whānau Ora HIA Training March 2nd and 3rd – for free Thanks to funding from the Ministry of Health HIA Support Unit’s Learning by Doing Investment, Hapai Te Hauora Tapui, supported by Synergia, are providing a free full two-day introductory WOHIA wananga in the Central Auckland area. The wananga will cover introduction to the WOHIA process and tools, and how to conduct a WOHIA. The dates are Tuesday 2nd and Wednesday 3rd March. The programme will be a full two days, and it is very important for you to attend both days. The training course is free of charge (not covering travel or accommodation expenses etc). Places are limited to 20. Please note that registrations must be received by Wednesday 24th Feb 2010. To register or for more information phone Megan Tunks on (09) 520 4796 / 027 600 5339 or email her: [email protected]

___________________________________________________________________ West Coast HIA Training March 24th & 25th – for free! Again, thanks to funding from the Ministry of Health HIA Support Unit’s Learning by Doing Investment and initiative from Community and Public Health at the Canterbury District Health Board, Rob Quigley (Quigley and Watts Ltd) and Martin Ward will be facilitating a free two day introductory HIA workshop in Greymouth.

In this two day workshop, participants will be introduced to the purpose and practice of HIA. The interactive workshop will draw on the experience of the participants and the extensive national and international experience of the teaching staff. The dates and times are: Wednesday March 24th - 9:30am to 5:30pm and Thursday March 25th - 8.30am to 4.30pm The training course is free of charge (not covering travel or accommodation expenses etc). There are just 24 places and this is the only South Island HIA training planned for this year so be in quick! Please note that registrations must be received by 4pm Friday 12th March. For more information or to register phone Alison Bourne on (03) 378 6814 or email her: [email protected]

Announcement: New Zealand to host the 2010 Asia & Pacific Regional HIA Conference

Following on from successful regional conferences in Sydney and Thailand, New Zealand is hosting the next regional conference on 17-19th November 2010 at the University of Otago in Dunedin. A call for papers will be issued shortly. In the meantime set aside those dates in your diary, and think about how you might be able to help. The programme committee is chaired by Rob Quigley, and is looking for volunteers to help with multiple tasks. If you'd like to volunteer please contact [email protected]. We have professional organisers assisting, so any commitment from volunteers is likely to be modest and can be done electronically from afar.

Resources of Interest

'The Positioning of HIA in Local Government in Victoria' (2005) by Grace Blau and Mary Maloney The authors noted at the time of this research, local governments in many countries, including Australia, were playing an increasing role in prioritising health in planning. In those countries where HIA is being applied either strategically or routinely at the local government level, it has directly improved local area planning and public policies, and has indirectly:     

encouraged key decision-makers in non-health departments to consider unanticipated health impacts of their decisions, particularly differential impacts across the municipality; facilitated intersectoral collaboration within local government; provided a systematic mechanism for evidence-based planning; encouraged ownership of local government decisions by utilising civic intelligence; and identified, and made transparent, trade-offs in local government decision making (Blau and Maloney, 2005:7).

This 12 month research project: explored how HIA could be positioned and applied within local government in Victoria for the purpose of assisting in the promotion of public health and the reduction of health inequalities. The contextual and operational conditions needed for its inclusion within

Victorian local government planning processes are discussed, and the enablers and barriers to its use are identified (Blau & Maloney, 2005:10). Click here to read 'The Positioning of HIA in Local Government in Victoria' ___________________________________________________________________ 'What is Impact Assessment?' (2009) by IAIA This short four page brochure published by the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) outlines what impact assessment is, what it aims to do, and how it is used internationally. It also talks about impact assessment as a professional field and scientific discipline. It is a concise and easy to read introduction to impact assessment and may be useful to pass on to colleagues that don't know much about impact assessment. Click here for What is Impact Assessment?

Current / Future HIA's

If you have an HIA underway or have just finished one then please get in touch with us and we will post information about it here. This could provide you and your team with useful information / pointers / support to assist you as you go through your HIA.

Does Your Organisation Need HIA Training? Our Training Courses Can Be Tailored To Meet Your Needs

Introductory and Advanced HIA training courses and courses on specific topics related to health, wellbeing and equity impact assessment can be organised for you. If you would like training to be held in your area or within your organisation please contact Louise Signal or Rob Quigley to discuss tailoring dates and training to your requirements. If appropriate, Rob can discuss the possibility of joint training sessions with other organisations in your area or even with others from other regions. Notices or invitations for training courses can be included here in HIA e-News. Ph: (04) 384 2046 or email: [email protected]; or [email protected]

Contact Us Ministry of Health:

[email protected] or [email protected]

Quigley and Watts Ltd:

[email protected]

This newsletter is funded by Ministry of Health and brought to you by Quigley and Watts

Ltd. We welcome your feedback via the above email addresses or through the New Zealand HIA Support Unit website www.moh.govt.nz/hiasupportunit