BCHPC Position Statement

Health Promotion and the Community Charter (Nebbeling, 2003)

The image of a new funding body for health promotion in British Columbia leans toward the same concepts presented in the 2003 Community Charter.
The charter promotes community empowerment and self-determination. It means that citizens can play a greater role in determining the futures of their own communities.
Through this legislation, local governments gain more autonomy to meet their individual needs.
By developing a new funding body for health promotion, the BC Health Promotion Coalition is looking to achieve similar goals.

Four goals of the BC Health Promotion Coalition

To nurture an environment in which health promotion is valued.
To establish a sustainable, made-in-BC model and source of funding for health promotion that advances "the empowerment of communities, their ownership and control of their own endeavors and destinies" (World Health Organization, 1986).
To develop an approach to current funding practices that communities find to be more fair, equitable and responsive to their strengths and priorities.
To build a province-wide peer resource network that consists of Web-based learning options and mentorship support for community groups, organizations and frontline professionals.

The BC Health Promotion Coalition believes that:

Funding guidelines for health promotion need to place communities in a leadership position.

Funding bodies must have as few barriers as possible, be flexible, and responsive to community-identified priorities.

This paper was written for the BC Health Promotion Coalition by Chris Morton, RN, BSN student, May 2003.