Healthy Cities Evaluation: the co-ordinators perspective

The Healthy Cities Project is based on the development of healthy public po licies by local governments. The study aim of some project teams in differe nt countries has been to find out what processes are involved in the develo pment of these policies, how decisions are made, and who and what they are influenced by. The Valencian Community Healthy Cities Network conducted an evaluation process, part of which is presented in this paper. The aim was t o find out the concepts and opinions of the project co-ordinators concernin g the opportunities and problems for healthy municipal policies, and to ana lyse the municipal organization with a view to detecting structural opportu nities for interdepartmental work. Interviews were conducted with the peopl e responsible for the project in 13 cities and the relevant documents analy sed. When discussing their health concept and actions for health, few of th e the co-ordinators mentioned the ideas contained in the Ottawa Charter. Th e established health programmes were rather based on personal/ individual c hanges and topic approach than setting-based strategies. The structural and strategic opportunities for interdepartmental work as well as the active p articipation of the community in the healthy policies decision-making proce ss need to be strengthened as they are perceived to be insufficient. Person al relationships and political differences between the different actors app ear to play an important role in the opportunities for the implementation o f intersector al policies.