The VOICE in Health Policy Project

The VOICE in health policy Project (VOICE) was launched as a result of the federal government's Partnering for the Benefit of Canadians: Voluntary Sector Initiative (VSI) .  With funding provided by Health Canada through the Sectoral Involvement in Departmental Policy Development (SIDPD) initiative, the VOICE Project was developed to:

• Increase the policy capacity of voluntary organizations working in health (VOWHs) and Health Canada (HC) , and
• Enhance individual and collective collaboration by VOWHs in Health Canada's policy development process.

The VOICE Project, a highly successful three-year action-research initiative, evolved through three inter-related phases.

Phase I (Building Policy Capacity) was initially marked by a Canada-wide roundtable consultation with VOWHs to learn about voluntary health sector needs in terms of policy capacity. In direct response to this intensive consultative process, and as highlighted in VOICE in health policy: Policy Capacity of Voluntary Organizations Working in Health (June 2003), the VOICE Project launched two comprehensive streams of activity:

• The National Training Strategy (Phases I & II) , which included the implementation of a one-day cross-country training session focused on federal health policy development and opportunities for influencing the process, and
• The initiation of six Demonstration Projects (Phase II Application of Learning), designed to provide representatives from the voluntary health sector, Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada with an opportunity to build policy capacity and to increase collaboration between VOWHs and Health Canada in the policy development process.

During the Project's final phase (Phase III Sustaining the Learning) the VOICE Project hosted The National Summit .  This unique, facilitated consultation engaged representatives from the voluntary health sector, Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada provided an opportunity for individuals from across the country to collectively explore collaborative approaches to health policy development.

The Make Your VOICE Count! (MYVC) website , a compendium of best learnings, tools and resources is a legacy initiative designed to facilitate and promote further opportunities for sustainable relationship-building between the voluntary sector and government. MYVC is also designed to act as a medium to support the voluntary health sector and government in their efforts to continue to build collaborative, sustainable relationships and to continue exploring opportunities for, and innovative approaches to, collaborative health policy development.