The importance – and challenges – of involving underserved communities in influencing spending, in ways which might improve wellbeing, has been studied by a range of researchers on involvement in prevention and healthcare.
A website has been created to share learning from Big Local, a place-based funding programme in which 150 disadvantaged areas across England – including several in south and other parts of London – received at least £1 million each over 10–15 years. Residents played an important part in decisions about how to spend this.
Improving health and wellbeing was often an important aspect of what was achieved, with communities taking a range of approaches shaped by local priorities. However,some common causes of poor health were too complex and systemic to be tackled through local spending alone.
Some people benefited from feeling more empowered through community decision-making, though there were power imbalances within communities and being involved could also be stressful. There may be useful lessons from the programme for research involvement too.