Coventry: A Marmot city
In 2013, Coventry became the first place to announce it would become a “Marmot city”.
Coventry pledged to create a fairer society by addressing the social determinants of health and improving the lives of its citizens. Since coining the phrase “Marmot city”, many other places and regions followed (2). A steering group drove forward Coventry's vision of becoming a Marmot city. The Marmot Partnership is an evolution of this group. The Marmot Partnership brings together a whole system of partners from a range of organisations and services including the voluntary, community and social enterprise sectors, statutory services, universities, health, emergency services, and the council. The Marmot Partners meet bi-monthly and are focussed on reducing health inequalities by working together on the Marmot Principles.
- There are no additional funding streams specifically for Marmot work. Instead, partners work together as a system of existing programmes and funds.
- Administration of the Marmot Partnership and the Marmot Monitoring Tool is supported by Coventry City Council's Public Health team.
- The Marmot approach is embedded in the Coventry Health and Wellbeing Strategy rather than being a separate strategy.
- The Marmot approach is a philosophy, a way of thinking and collaborating so that processes and services are best designed to reduce inequalities.