Smokefree Outdoor Spaces Process
The following is an outline of the process that Toi Te Ora – Public Health Service has found effective when advocating for Councils to adopt Smokefree Outdoor Spaces policy.
1. Presentation
The first step in the process taken by Toi Te Ora - Public Health Service was to present the idea of a Smokefree Outdoor Spaces policy to Councils in the region. Presentations would generally outline what the policy is, the main target audience and the key messages of why councils should adopt the policy, the process of implementation, and how public health staff can help with implementation and monitoring of the policy.
It is important to be prepared to present more than once and to different audiences within the council. For example, an initial presentation will likely need to be given to appropriate Council staff (such as the Parks and Reserves team and/or management). Eventually, one or more presentations will need to be given to the Councillors as they will ultimately make the decision on whether or not the policy should be adopted. With this in mind, it is important to tailor each presentation to suit the audience and the various stages in the process. It is also important that presentations are evidenced based.
2. Community Support
In addition to FAQ's, some of the main questions councils tend to ask concerns community support for the policy:
- has public health consulted the community?
- does public health plan on consulting the community?
In most cases the answer is that councils have already consulted their communities in the development of community outcomes. Most communities have health related community outcomes. In these instances, the proposed policy can be linked to such outcomes. By conducting evaluations of Smokefree Outdoor Spaces policies, there is also potential for Councils to use the data obtained in monitoring community outcomes.
3. Collaboration in Policy Development
Making the process of developing and implementing Smokefree Outdoor Spaces policy easy for Council should help ensure Council’s willingness to adopt the policy. At Toi Te Ora - Public Health Service, Health Promoters worked with Council staff in the planning, development and writing of Smokefree Outdoor Spaces Policy.
4. Final Presentation
Once the draft policy has been developed it will then need to be presented to Council for adoption.
5. Implementation
Implementation of the policy involves the erection of Smokefree signage and raising public awareness through media releases. Public health staff can assist by issuing general press releases to help raise public awareness.
6. Evaluations
Health Promoters evaluated the effectiveness of the policy in Opotiki and Rotorua (for the full evaluation reports and results click here). As a result of this work, an evaluation toolkit has been developed, which has been designed to be used by other organisations for evaluating Smokefree Outdoor Spaces policies in their regions.
