Reflective workshops: Ten years on
To celebrate ten years of being a Marmot city, the time was right to bring partners together to reflect on the journey so far. In May 2024, the Marmot Partnership came together to talk about how they felt about ten years of the partnership, the progress made, and to discuss the priorities for the future.
The Public Health team at Coventry City Council facilitated five interactive, informal workshops. Each three-hour workshop focussed on one or two of the Marmot Principles.
Workshop participants and activities
54 different individuals attended at least one of the workshops. Participants represented a range of teams and organisations from:
- Business in the Community
- Central England Law Centre
- Chamber of Commerce
- Change Grow Live - Positive choices
- Coventry Independent Advice Services
- Coventry and Warwickshire Growth Hub
- Coventry and Warwickshire MIND
- Coventry University
- Department for Work and Pensions
- Family Health and Lifestyles Service
- FWT - a centre for women
- Health Determinants Research Collaboration
- Institute of Health Equity, University College London
- Integrated Care Board
- University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust
Coventry City Council teams and services
- Best Start in Life
- Climate Change
- Early Help
- Early Years
- Ecology and Biodiversity
- Economic and Business Development
- Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
- Migration
- Outdoor Education
- Planning
- Public Health
- Skills, Employment and Adult Education Service
- Transformation
- Transport
The workshops were designed to encourage participants to have open and honest discussions about the past, present, and future of work of the Marmot Partnership and to try to capture ‘the essence of what we do’ in Coventry.
Participants also took part in an anonymous online activity, answering questions about quick-fire topics. For example, “where do we need to do better?”, “who is missing?”, and “ambitions”.
Participants who may not have wanted to or had the chance to openly discuss thoughts had the opportunity to write additional thoughts and comments on worksheets. Notes from the discussions, worksheets, and online activity were then collated and reviewed by the Public Health Inequalities team and the Health Determinants Research Collaboration Coventry (5). Themes were developed and organised into three sections: Positive Progress, Challenging Contexts, and Creating, Measuring, and Sharing Impact. These themes are summarised below. Notes from the workshops captured anonymous quotes and are included to illustrate discussions.
Limitations of this report should be noted. This report presents reflections from those who attended the workshops; not all Marmot Partners were represented. The report is also not a formal evaluation of the Marmot approach or Marmot Partnership. Instead, this report is intended to highlight key reflections from the Marmot Partners in 2024 to inspire further developments and discussions in Coventry and beyond.
Coventry Marmot Partners have also provided case studies to showcase work aligned to the Marmot Principles. Case studies and a full list of Marmot Partners are included in Part Two.