Are you a Local Authority that is working in partnership with other organisations to achieve behaviour changing policies within your community?

Can you say that you are leading the way? Are you able to bring some fresh thinking to a debate around the delivery of behaviour change policies and structures to support it?

The IDeA has commissioned the Tavistock Institute to conduct a workshop and think piece to understand the most effective ways to support the processes and partnerships which work together to implement behaviour change policies for citizens. The project recognises that the priorities agreed between councils, local partners and central government in local area agreements increasingly point toward the fact that influencing people’s behaviour is an important aspect of local council’s aspirations. So it is no surprise to see that the top 20 National indicator priorities include: under 18 conception; childhood obesity; smoking; re-offending and participation in sport.

We are currently scoping for areas of best practice, reviewing existing literature and interviewing local authorities actively working towards such priorities. Are you an authority that is leading the way? Do you have strategic responsibilities for a behaviour change initiative? What lessons can we learn from you?

A workshop will be held on Tuesday December 16th 2008 facilitated by the Tavistock Institute to understand some of the questions above and develop key lessons and characteristics for partnerships. It will be a chance to see areas of best practice and discuss areas for further development. The workshop will be chaired by Lucy De Groot, Chief executive of the IDeA.

The findings from the workshop will contribute to a think piece written by the Tavistock Institute and published in January 2009.