Marginalised community health

Improving the health and wellbeing of marginalised and underserved communities.

Author: Ifeoma Elizabeth Dan-Ogosi, Senior Lecturer in Public Health, Student Success and Inclusivity Champion & Disability Access Champion

My worldview is compassion. Naturally, I like making people feel happy and well. My personal and professional philosophy is based on critical pedagogy, where you try to reduce the oppression of underrepresented and underserved groups of people. In many ways, this is my life’s work and my great passion: I want to improve outcomes for people who are less privileged and have little say in decisions that directly affect them.

Public health leadership

Right now, I’m teaching on the Leadership for public health module at UWE Bristol. We’re developing future public health leaders who better reflect and understand underserved groups of people and communities.

I’m teaching my students what public health leadership means, the impact that positive leadership can have. I’m also working on a proposal to co-create public health leadership modules with my students. I am very keen to enable them to better reflect on what they’ve done and what they’re going to do in the future. To help them to use their knowledge and training to create positive, effective action as public health leaders. Leaders who can deliver real change for these communities.

Listening to communties

I have also done a lot of research into bottom-up decision-making and participatory budgeting. These two ideas are about putting power – and decisions and funding – into the hands of people who are underserved. People who don’t have a voice.

Through appreciative inquiry, we can listen to communities. We hear their voices. We get them around a table to really understand their needs. By listening and by helping them to make decisions about their own communities, we can improve outcomes.

So, for instance, in my PhD, I had four case studies. Three of these came out of the participatory budgeting project. We used participatory budgeting as a democratic tool, to enable and allow citizens to make the decisions about money that will be used for their community. In doing so, the communities choose only the projects that are most beneficial to them. For example, a project that helps women from abusive relationships, or a project around healthy eating. It’s all about what’s right and best for that community at that time.

In my PhD, I evaluated the evolution and impacts of participatory budgeting for health and wellbeing. We trained local communities on how to bid for grant funding and then how to use the grants within their community. Putting fast, effective decision-making in their hands. They don’t have to wait two, three weeks for people behind a closed door to make a decision that affects their community. They make the decisions. They have power and agency. That can be life changing.

Bottom-up decision-making

Because communities know what is best for their community. This is true democracy. It allows local citizens to make decisions about their own health and wellbeing. We make them the owners. This means that they can see and see and feel a direct, positive impact on their everyday lives.

Concepts like bottom-up decision-making and participatory budgeting create a real buzz in communities. I’m very excited about what’s to come – for myself and for my students, and, importantly, for the underserved communities we are committed to helping.