Building a better tomorrow for everyone, everywhere
Centre for Health Empowerment
The Centre for Health Empowerment is a collaboration project of People Street, Somali Senior Citizens Club and Utopia Arts that prizes collaboration over certainty. We are not here to advocate for a single perspective or to push predetermined solutions. Instead, we think deeply about practical ways to tackle health inequalities, embracing the complexity of real-world challenges.
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We believe in multidisciplinary exchange—bringing together voices from different fields, lived experiences, and ways of knowing. If you are drawn to thoughtful dialogue, if you prefer to explore the full rhythm of an issue rather than march to a single beat, this is the space for you.
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We welcome critique—not the kind that tears down, but the kind that asks hard questions, challenges assumptions, and opens up new ways of thinking. Our focus is on practice: testing, iterating, and refining approaches that make health systems fairer, more inclusive, and rooted in the realities of the people they serve. Above all, we seek to foster debate, deepen understanding, and turn collective insight into action.
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If you would like to join us on this journey, please use the contact information at the bottom of this page.
People Street is launched the Centre for Health Empowerment in response to the deepening health inequalities and the urgent need for communities to have a stronger role in shaping their own well-being. As the gaps in health outcomes widen, we believe in the power of self-health—an approach grounded in health promotion and community empowerment—to build resilience, improve lives, and create lasting change.
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At the heart of our work is the principle of self-health: the idea that people are not passive recipients of care but active agents in their own well-being. By fostering self-efficacy, collective action, and community-led solutions, we are creating a future where everyone has the knowledge, confidence, and power to drive better health outcomes for themselves and those around them.
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The Centre for Health Empowerment has grown directly from our grassroots work, and shaped by the voices of the communities we serve. They have told us clearly: raising awareness is not enough. What’s needed is meaningful support—opportunities to build skills, access resources, and take control of their own health and well-being.
The Centre exists to answer that call, turning lived experience into action and ensuring that communities are not just heard but equipped to lead the change they want to see. Community-led research is at the heart of the Centre of Health Empowerment. We will share quarterly insights and invite you to explore what this means for you, your work, your community, your decision making.
Community-Led Research
At People Street, we believe the best research is done with communities, not on them. That’s why we trained and supported a team of Community Researchers, people who live and work in the same neighbourhoods as those we aim to reach. These researchers speak the languages, understand the cultures, and know the places where people feel comfortable and safe. This approach helps us reach people who are often left out of conversations that affect them most.
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Our Community Researchers don’t use long surveys or jargon. Instead, they hold casual, friendly conversations in parks, libraries, mosques, market stalls, churches and community spaces.
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This kind of participative research is at the heart of what we do. We doesn’t just collect stories, our approach builds confidence, trust, and connection. It creates space for people who are rarely heard to take part, ask questions, and feel part of something bigger. It also gives policymakers and professionals insight they can’t get from data alone. By doing research this way, we bring the “hard-to-reach” into the centre and help create better, fairer solutions for all.
