Oral

Many academic- community partnerships are faced with challenges, aggressive timelines and misaligned priorities. Achieving the balance between community stakeholders and academic researchers is a unique process that requires trust- building, mutual benefits and shared interests. The purpose of this session is to discuss and describe the importance of community involvement in all phases of CBPR. Panelists will provide their expertise, thoughtful insights and key findings on community engagement, community organization, partnership models and evaluation methods with a placed emphasis on community involvement.

Session Objectives: Demonstrate the importance of community involvement in community- based public health initiatives Describe the approaches used to engage community partners, harness partnership synergy, develop community- driven research projects and generate culturally appropriate findings Identify effective strategies to develop a comprehensive approach that engages community members, key government leaders and health professionals to address identified concerns and develop culturally appropriate solutions