Jennie Popay on why communities need to outward gaze for lasting impact

In this series, Michael is exploring community power — what it is, how it’s linked to better outcomes, such as health, and what its limitations are. The series is in collaboration with Pritpal S Tamber, a researcher and consultant on the link between community power and health, and a Non-Executive Director of Ratio. In this episode, Michael talks to Jennie Popay, a Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Public Health at Lancaster University in the UK. Jennie’s insights on the outward gaze and the Emancipatory Power Framework were described in the article, Power, control, communities and health inequalities I: theories, concepts and analytical frameworks, published in Health Promotion International Her view on the need to ‘map’ power in communities refers to the Emancipatory Power Framework and the Limiting Power Framework, the latter of which is also described in the above article Limiting Power Framework draws on Barnett and Duvall’s 2005 article on how power is inadequately conceptualised and Gaventa’s 2009 article on the nature of power relationships in citizen engagement The aforementioned article in Health Promotion International is the first of a trilogy; the second looks at how to measure shifts in power and the third looks at the role of spaces in the process of power shifting The trilogy of articles described above are based on their analysis of 15 of the 150 localities in Big Local, a long-term ‘empowerment’ initiative in England The multimedia evaluation of Big Local, which Jennie mentions, can be found here  Jennie’s ideas on resilience, including the ‘neighbourhood system resilience’ model were described in the article, System resilience and neighbourhood action on social determinants of health inequalities: an English Case Study, published in Perspectives in Public Health And her analysis of the impact of community empowerment initiatives on the mental wellbeing of participants is described in the article, Community empowerment and mental wellbeing: longitudinal findings from a survey of people actively involved in the big local place-based initiative in England, published in the Journal of Public Health The epilogue between Michael and Pritpal reflects their views, not necessarily Jennie’s. Subscribe to Ratio’s Newsletter here and find out more about Pritpal S Tamber’s work here. Get in touch with us any time by sending an email to hello@ratio.org.uk. Ratio Talks is produced with the help of sound designer Nik Paget-Tomlinson and creative director Richard De Angelis. The show’s theme song is by Luca Picardi.