Health Equalities: Learning and Support Partner

Through the Health Equalities programme, The National Lottery Community Fund has awarded £6.9 million to support local areas to develop effective and sustainable partnerships between the voluntary and community sector, the NHS and local authorities to improve health and wellbeing, reduce health inequalities and empower communities. 

Thanks to National Lottery players, these partnerships have the potential to bring about significant change, promoting the role of the voluntary sector and the value of cross-sector partnerships.

The National Lottery Community Fund and the Innovation Unit are working together to:

• Support the organisations and grant holders who are looking to address health inequalities in 12 local areas
   
• Connect and convene the Health Equality partnerships to generate and share learning
   
• Communicate this learning to wider audiences

By sharing learning and insights relating to tackling health inequalities, we’re supporting the  partnerships to build a legacy beyond their National Lottery funding and point towards longer-term systems change.

Innovation Unit has been the Learning and Support Partner on this programme since the development phase (2021-22), and will continue to work with the grantees until January 2026. 

The approach

As Learning and Support partner, our work involves a combination of bespoke 1-1 support for each grant holder, and a series of cohort learning activities.

We convene the grant holders to share experiences, gain peer support and develop their practice. We also host external events for the wider sector, exploring the barriers and enablers which support effective and sustainable partnerships focused on tackling health inequalities. 

Our support to the partnerships varies according to their needs across the length of the programme. The support we offer includes: 

• Delivering coaching and reflective practice sessions
   
• Supporting evaluation and learning approaches 
   
• Advising on strategic and organisational development 
   
• Providing design and communications guidance
   
• Facilitating workshops, meetings and steering groups      

Insights and resources

This web page is a home for the learning and resources generated through the programme and will be updated regularly as our work continues. We hope this is a useful repository for anyone else looking to tackle health inequalities and develop effective cross-sector partnerships.