Urban health capacities: assessment and response primer

Overview

Assessing and using capacities that create synergies across sectors and levels of governance can significantly improve urban health and wellbeing. The Urban health capacities assessment and response Primer describes these capacities in detail and why they are essential to achieving holistic delivery of urban health goals.

This Primer is part of the Urban health capacities assessment and response resource kit. The Primer profiles these “connective capacities” at individual, organizational and systemic (cross-organizational) levels, and their vital role in achieving urban goals across all sectors, to support city-dwellers’ health and wellbeing. By informing a capacity self-assessment, this Primer helps teams aiming to understand to what extent they have connective capacities, what this means for achieving their urban health goals and how to respond.

The Resource Kit also contains an Action Guide, which supports the stakeholders in using the Primer to carry out a capacity self-assessment and response exercise. Training videos are available to show the process, while City examples describe the practical experiences of particular cities that have used these tools to support their efforts to improve urban health.