3 Shifts to Empower Movement Building For Health

3 Shifts To Empower Movement Building For Health

Written by Yong Yoek Ling

Sector: Community and Health

Competency: Align: The ability to develop operating structures that enable distributed leadership and empower community action

For MOHT, Movements for Health began in 2021, "as a vision to look at how collective human actions, when harnessed positively, can generate great momentum and effect sustainable behaviour change towards health" [1].

In the course of the year, we have been exploring the questions of what movements for health means, how movements apply in the Singapore context, and how it is similar or different from other ways of working, e.g. Asset Based Community Development (ABCD). While ABCD is a relatively familiar concept that is actively practised by a number of agencies and communities in Singapore, the concept of movements in contrast, may be a relatively 'foreign' concept more commonly associated with politics and protests.

In this Movement Insights article, we examine i) the similarities between ABCD and Movements, and what we can learn from the practice of the former and ii) some ways in which they differ and add to one another. Read on for insights derived from our session with ABCD practitioners, Ms Evon Chua, Population Health & Community Transformation, Yishun Health, as well as Ms Chia Jie Min and Ms Marlina, Community Worker and Community Leader with Beyond Social Services.

Some Distinctions: ABCD and Movements

An article by the Centre for Non-Profit leadership defines ABCD as "a strategy and a mindset within the community context that calls for the identifying and mobilising existing, but often unrecognised assets for sustainable community development" [2]. While there are multiple definitions of the term 'movements', they are generally characterised by a collective of people and/or organisations who rally around a shared issue/cause to bring about a specific change [3]. A review of the two approaches reveals some distinctions:

FOCUS: Focus on Strengths/Assets vs Issue/ Gap

The focus of ABCD is on developing and harnessing the assets and strengths within a community, sometimes termed as a 'glass half-full' approach, instead of starting with a need or a problem. Movements on the other hand, focus on a specific issue/cause or even injustice, as the rallying point for bringing people together.

APPROACH: Developing Within vs Outward Rallying

While ABCD may focus its efforts primarily on capacity-building within the community, a movement may focus outwards through means like awareness and advocacy campaigns to build up momentum in support of the change or cause.

STRUCTURES: Organic vs Structured

ABCD tends to be more organic in terms of how they organise themselves, with a focus on building ownership and leadership within the community itself. Movements on the other hand, may deploy structures such as distributed leadership and the 'snowflake model' to organise themselves in order to intentionally grow and scale [4].

GOALS: Emergent vs Declared

While both ABCD and movements seek to bring about societal good, the ABCD approach generally does not impose a specific change or goal, but rather, it emerges from the community itself. Movements on the other hand, start with a stated desire/change that rallies people together.

Beyond Consumers to Creators

Both ABCD and movements entail capacity-building, going beyond what one individual or one organisation can do for and on behalf of the people, but how the people and communities themselves are activated to co-create change. In this, both ABCD and movements are distinct from programmes in that they are about working with their constituents as co-creators, rather than as consumers of what they produce. Both Evon and Jie Min shared valuable insights on the journey of bringing people along:

i) It starts with listening rather than preconceived notions of expert knowledge and what should be done, and;

ii) Co-creation may often mean walking the counterintuitive path of giving up power and control, as 'things won't go the way you want it to'. But it is in stepping back that we create the space for others to step in and step up.

Beyond Social To Health

How might we tap the energy and power of communities for generating movements for health? Both Evon and Marlina emphasised the importance of the role people and communities played in generating positive health outcomes. In particular, Evon pointed out how while healthcare institutions can produce healthcare services, it is the people themselves who produce health.

Marlina, through her own stories and examples, shared how the creative power of community advocates and leaders can help build bridges to health messages and desired health outcomes. While there was a health hotline established to give residents information about health resources that they might need, Marlina noticed that the utilisation was low. Because she understood the food scarcity challenges and what was relevant to the community, they were able to come up with 'marketing' ideas that would resonate with the community. Therein came the innovation of starting a community fridge, as a means of publicising the hotline.

In this, we see how an activated community is capable of customising and conveying health messages in a way that could effect and sustain behavioral health changes.

Beyond Stakeholders to Partners

Movements may focus on gathering partnerships and alliance in order to gather the resources needed to make the change that they want. In this, we heard from Jie Min on her tips on forming valuable and sustainable partnerships. Alignment, not just on the eventual goal, but the finer details of process and the ways of working, was critical for sustaining partnerships. For example, for ABCD in particular, it was important to respect the voices of the community, throughout the process.

In closing, Jie Min reflected on how it was not a matter of one approach being better than the other, but rather how both worked together on a spectrum. She brought up an example of a movement that emerged from an ABCD approach, and how one empowered the other. As they worked with a resident group around ABCD community building processes, one of the participants sparked off a movement around raising awareness of sexual harassment. Jie Min saw how the community and relationships built through the ABCD process provided a container of support that enabled the 'movement' to arise. At the same time, the organising of the 'movement' serve to strengthen the community even more.

As we continue on this Movements For Health journey, we hope to learn from diverse practices and ways of working, that contextualise the potential of movements within the Singapore context. We thank Evon, Jie Min and Marlina for the insights that contributed to this learning!

[1] MOH Office For Healthcare Transformation. 31 July 2021. "Catalysing Movements For Health". See link to article.

[2] City of Good. 25 February 2021. "Guide to Asset-Based Community Development". Centre for Non-Profit Leadership. See link to article.

[3] Commons Librarian. 2023. "What is a Social Movement? Social Movement Definitions". Commons Library. See link to article.

[4] Dr. Marshall Ganz, Leading Change Network, and the New Organizing Institute. 2014. "Organizing: People, Power, Change". See link to handbook.

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