What are the main characteristics of a WSA?
1. System Thinking
The issue of obesity is influenced by a complex and adaptive system, which means it necessary to explore it by bringing together many different perspectives, data sets and insights. It is also crucial to prioritise preventative actions by identifying the parts of the system that can actually be effectively influenced.
2. Learning Culture
A process of reflection, learning and adaption must be part of the WSA process. Senior leadership should enable a working environment in which everybody involved can openly share what is and what is not working.
3. Facilitative and Adaptive Leadership
Leaders take on a central role in WSA. They have to be able to build, and sustain, collaborative relationships across the system and show their commitment to achieving long-term change. Furthermore, they must empower leadership at all levels and continuously learn from new ways of working.
4. Purposeful Engagement
This characteristic refers to conceptualising the community as the centre of the process and their proactive engagement as crucial to successful systematic change. It is, however, important to always combine community knowledge with professional insight. Community engagement is supposed to identify and prioritise opportunities for intervention.
5. Governance and Resourcing
It must be ensured that it is possible to incorporate WSA interventions and actions into the institutions and community infrastructure of the given context.
6. Sustainable Collaborative Working
Stakeholders within WSA should aim to extend their influence by reaching beyond the partners they usually work with.
7. Shared Commitments and Outcomes
In order to sustain collaboration, a shared vision within the programme partnership must be established. This can be seen as the foundation for better connection and alignment of actions.
8. Place Is Important
All interventions and actions must meet the unique needs of the locality they are being implemented in.
9. Creativity and Innovation
WSA has to be designed to apply evidence in a flexible way to best fit local need and support creative and innovative actions and ways of working.