Wednesday 15^th May 2013, 10.00 am to 2.00 pm

The Engine Shed, 19 St Leonard’s Lane Edinburgh EH8 9SH

This Equal Partners event  is a co-production by Voluntary Health Scotland, ACOSVO, Children in Scotland and The Scottish Government Third Sector Unit. Targeted at third sector chief officers or their deputes, and Scottish Government team leaders or above, this free event will connect leaders across the sectors, facilitate dialogue and build mutual understanding, with the aim of improving leadership for transformational change.

The event will take children and young people’s health and wellbeing as its connecting theme. It will be particularly relevant to Scottish Government and third sector leaders active in the arenas of health inequalities, health improvement, preventative health care, collaborative planning and delivery, and asset based approaches. In addition, we strongly encourage leaders involved in the poverty, welfare and housing agendas to register.

Our ambition is that this dialogue will contribute to the continued understanding, development and implementation of policy in relevant areas, including:

• Children and Young People’s Bill – focuses on reforming service provision and rights in order to improve children’s life chances
• The Healthcare Quality Strategy for NHS Scotland
• Single Outcome Agreements – which now include health inequalities and children’s early years as priorities

Participants will be encouraged to explore concrete opportunities for continuing to work co-productively beyond the event itself.

What benefits will Equal Partners provide?

• A deeper understanding of respective roles, responsibilities and priorities across current health and social policies in relation to children and young people
• Improved understanding of what constitutes productive engagement across sectors – building mutual understanding and respect, and paving the way for  future dialogue and collaboration
• Improved capacity for leadership – by exposing leaders to the challenges and complexities involved for each sector and giving them a safe space in which to explore those challenges
• A creative space in which to both reflect and generate new ideas and solutions – through sharing  experience, knowledge, resources and skills

ALL THIRD SECTOR PLACES ON THIS EVENT ARE NOW TAKEN. FOR INFORMATION ABOUT POSSIBLE CANCELLATIONS, CONTACT claire.stevens@vhscotland.org.uk