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.
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