Unpacking participation in healthcare governance: Lessons from two local health councils in Brazil and Spain

Abstract

This paper describes and compares the integration of cross-sector actors' participation into the governance of two local health councils, one located in Salvador de Bahia (Brazil) and the other in the Canary Islands (Spain). Based on the cross-national comparative research conducted as part of a doctoral thesis, a qualitative design based on secondary data analysis was proposed on the three stages of the organisational integration process of participation. We used information from individual semi-structured interviews (n = 70), situational observation, focus groups, literature review, and field notes to understand participatory processes of networking between multiple cross-sector actors and to show how such processes might be associated with innovative practices. For these innovations to be successfully implemented, stakeholders need to acquire adequate competencies in cross-sector collaboration, enabling them to learn about new organisational practices and to adapt the network of actors to the often unpredictable influences of contextual factors.