Featured Resource: The EQUIP Equity Action Kit

By Dr. Jonathan A. Caballero, Implementation Support Consultant

5-min read

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At The Center of Implementation, we see equity as a fundamental aspect of implementation. Not only it is the right thing to do, but it also enhances implementation initiatives’ impact. For example, by providing a better opportunity to understand barriers and facilitators that might look different for different groups of people, selecting change strategies that take potential inequities into account, and ultimately improving the initiative’s outcomes as a whole.

We also recognize that it can be challenging to weave equity into the implementation process, even when it has been defined as a priority.

The EQUIP Equity Action Kit is a great resource that can help teams who want to implement equitably. It includes an accessible introduction to key concepts, a “Road Map” with an adaptable set of steps to promote equity, workbooks to guide changemakers through those steps, and practical advice on how to select strategies and tools, plan and budget for it, overcome resistance, and evaluate its outcomes.

Conceptual introduction

The EQUIP equity action kit offers a clear and accessible conceptual introduction to key dimensions of equity, an evidence-based introduction to health (in)equity and why it is important, and a short introduction to how to implement equity-oriented initiatives. Text and video resources are available along with pointers to additional resources, including academic references, and external websites.

Watch the videos, “Why Equity-Oriented Health Care” and “How to Implement Equity-Oriented Health Care”, before starting the Action Kit.

Equity road map

The kit provides a practical roadmap to guide teams through the process. It is divided into three phases, with some steps in each of them. The roadmap is flexible and adaptable, so that teams can start at different points of the process.

Its phases and steps are:

Phase 1: Examine and explore	Phase 2: Adapt and Operationalize	Phase 3: Install, Implement, Monitor & Sustain
Step 0: Take Stock (i.e. critically analyzing your organization and context) Step 1: Commit (i.e. securing buy-in and support from leadership)	Step 2: Set Logistics (i.e. deciding how to work together and how to involve members of the organization and people with lived experiences of inequities) Step 3: Plan (i.e. setting goals and priorities, and selecting strategies and actions based on them)	Step 4: Make Change (i.e. implementing, ideally, this could lead to written adjustments of policies, procedures and actual practices). Step 5: Monitor progress (i.e. selecting equity-oriented measures and assessing progress) Step 6: Embed Momentum (i.e. weaving those changes into a sustainable “new” normality with equity at the center)

While there is no one-to-one correspondence, we can see many parallels with the StrategEase pathway (mainly phase 1 and 2) and the Implementation, Spread, and Scale pathway (mainly phase 3), if it makes it easier for you to conceptualize these phases and steps.

Workbook and other practical resources

The kit provides guidelines and considerations relevant to all steps (such as engaging people with lived experiences of inequity and engaging all levels and types of staff members), as well as more tailored advice for each of the steps. It also provides practical workbooks that help guiding teams through the planning process and also for implementing actions.

In the webpage and workbook, there are useful resources, tools, and practical advice on how to perform key tasks of the roadmap, such as securing buy-in, overcoming resistance, budgeting, selecting equity-oriented evaluation and monitoring measures, among many others. The list is extensive, but if you still crave for more, you can always complement it with the equity-focused resources available at TCI’s toolbox.

We invite you to explore this resource and we hope it is useful to think and act with equity in mind throughout your implementation journey.

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