GUIDED FORUM ON
INTERSECTORAL ACTION
Communities’ experiences in developing
intersectoral actions
How to go further?
Results of the guided forum
January 29, 2014
Social Services Forum, FNQLHSSC
QUESTIONS ASKED
•
Share your experiences in developing
intersectoral actions in your communities
•
How can you go further with these
actions?
EXPERIENCES
Facilitating elements
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Trust in one’s partners
Leadership by management to promote
work between sectors
Intersectorality prevents duplication of
services and reduces workloads of human
resources
Approval process
Good understanding of the roles and
mandates of all other sectors and partner
organizations
EXPERIENCES
Facilitating elements
Clear political desire to see for action by
the authorities (management)
 Intersectorality allows local culture to be
reflected (holistic approach)
 Use of effective communication tools
 Learn about experiences elsewhere in the
country
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EXPERIENCES
Challenges and issues
Getting the involvement and
collaboration of some sectors can be
difficult
 Difference between sectors’ mandates
 Work overloads leaves little time for
intersectoral actions
 Attention is often given to organizations
outside the community
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EXPERIENCES
Challenges and issues
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Political interference in clinical and/or
administrative matters
Fear of breaching confidentiality due to
intersectoral actions
Workload requires an approval process
Language barriers between partners
Maintain and make progress in
mobilization of all sectors
EXPERIENCES
Challenges and issues
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Staff turnover
Geographical border situation with other
provinces
Management and sharing of client
information and files
Role of prevention in services
Involvement of people in the community
EXPERIENCES
Challenges and issues
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‘Taboos’ that persist in the community
and personal experiences of some
workers
Resistance to change
Lack of cultural understanding by some
partners
Workers’ feelings of isolation and work
overloads
Difficulties in preparing documents
Perception of services by community
members
HOW TO GO FURTHER?
Be proactive and present your
team’s services to outside
organizations/other sectors
 Initiate intersectorality
 Stop looking at differences and
starting putting the accent on
strengths and things in common
 Collaborate and use team work at
all times

HOW TO GO FURTHER?
Be informed about the other services so
that you can refer clients to them
 Develop protocols allowing the different
sectors to work in complementary
manner
 Analyze the services in order to identify
any gaps
 Reflect on the roles and responsibilities
of everyone in order to properly identify
work to be done by an intersectoral
approach (combine the action plans of
each sector)
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HOW TO GO FURTHER?
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Hold regular meetings between sectors
and partners
Develop a common intervention model
for all sectors
Develop partnerships with outside
organizations
Build partners’ awareness concerning
Aboriginal culture
Create opportunities for networking
between sectors and partners (formal
and informal)
Identify a leader with strong unifying
skills to initiate intersectorality
HOW TO GO FURTHER?
Develop strategies for
intersectorality between
communities
 Create and participate in joint
tables
 Respect the pace and limits of
communities and outside
partners
 Trust the knowledge and
experiences of the community

HOW TO GO FURTHER?
Centre intersectoral
interventions on the well-being of
families
 Get the involvement of sectors
that do not traditionally come
under health and social services
(police, justice, firefighting, public
services, housing, education, etc.)
 Centralize information (tools,
protocols, templates, etc.)

HOW TO GO FURTHER?
Establish a shared vision for the
community
 Implement adequate training and
refresher measures for workers
 Integrate best practices for
intersectorality into the design of
programs

HOW TO GO FURTHER?
Allow yourself to innovate and ask
questions to get off the beaten
path
 Effectively organize your
intersectoral work to avoid
wasting time at meetings
 Reorganize internal services to
implement intersectoral work
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HOW TO GO FURTHER?
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Regularly review the situation
Highlight positive actions
Name a key worker to coordinate
actions and move things forward
(without overloading that person)
Implement conflict resolution
measures (e.g., outside resource)
Establish protocols for emergency
situations
Be capable of self-criticism and selftransformation to bring about change