Programmes

Our programme approach

Since 2017, we’ve taken a place-based approach to urban health. This means developing an understanding of how the local environment – such as the social context and economic factors – affect people’s health. We create partnerships to address the many different causes of complex health challenges. Using our funding and expertise, we back evidence-based approaches from around the world, home-grown initiatives and exciting, brand-new ideas.

We work at four scales

• Neighbourhood – we test whole-system solutions by setting up a range of projects and initiatives within a small and defined geography, to test and demonstrate their combined impact
• Borough – we address systemic obstacles to help adopt approaches and ideas that depend on a larger scale model to have impact
• National – we influence social and policy barriers, and encourage others to adopt successful local approaches
• International – we share our learnings with others across the globe who are tackling urban health challenges in their areas

How we do it

• focus on long-term, specific goals that shape everything we do
• look at the wider needs of people and the broader determinants of their health
• concentrate our efforts where evidence shows we will have the greatest impact, and then layering up several projects, ideas and initiatives that approach the issue from different angles
• support a variety of projects and partners, scaling up over time and refining as we go
• invest in evaluation and learning to make improvements to help share what we find with others

We draw on a variety of resources to support this work, including giving financial support to partners, relationship and network building.