We are delighted to announce that Harjit Bansal, Cherrise Chand and Cathrine Lund of the Equality Diversity & Inclusion (ED&I) team have won a prestigious award for their "Building Community Capacity" project. 

"Building Community Capacity" was one of three projects that visualised an ideal state of affairs by 2050 and worked backwards to identify how to achieve this. It was initially inspired by figures showing much higher than average death rates from COVID19 among the Black, Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities. 

One of the key identified by the initial collaborative group, which consisted of clinical and non-clinical staff in NELFT, was the lack of consistent engagement with the community groups identified by health inequalities, these included, Black young men, Bangladeshi and Pakistani communities in the areas that we serve. To achieve an ideal of an extensive network of community engagement champions by 2050, the team created a series of goals to be met by 2025. These include, among others, reaching out to and partnering with local community groups, setting up a mentoring programme for community engagement champions, and working with local schools and colleges. 

This initiative won the Equity PROJECTS IN PROGRESS [PIP] award from Design Thinkers Academy London [DK&E] for exceptional work at The Symposium/Projects in Progress [PIP] Awards. Sandra Adu, DK&A Programme Manager, said: 

“Your exemplary work stood out amongst the submissions, and your commitment to excellence is truly commendable. Please accept my warmest congratulations on your outstanding contributions, which have undoubtedly made a significant impact. I am privileged to have witnessed such inspiring projects and look forward to seeing your continued success in the future.”

Harjit, Cherrise and Cathrine received their award from Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, and we'd like to congratulate them on the well-deserved recognition for their work. The challenge now is implementation of the vision.  This workstream will also support the health inequalities agenda and PCREF (Patient and Carers Race Equality Framework).