Over twenty years ago, the World Health Organization launched a health promoting school movement as part of its settings approach to creating healthy environments. Partnerships across the public health and education sectors are vitally important in efforts to improve the health of children and youth in a school setting. In support of this principle, major advancements have been made within Ontario’s education sector, such as mandating local school systems to incorporate the goal of student well-being into their improvement plans and promoting the use of their Foundations for a Healthy School framework. Furthermore, the provincial ministries of education and health are actively encouraging the strengthening of local school health partnerships. However, there is a lack of knowledge within the health promoting school literature as to how to go about establishing well-functioning partnerships within local school systems. To address this problem, the thesis project aimed to generate knowledge about partnerships between public health professionals and local school system actors, and to shed light on the potential for collaboration toward the creation of healthy schools. Before embarking on this thesis project, however, a conceptual framework was developed to gain a firm understanding of cross-sector collaboration for social change, since collaboration represents a partnership at the highest level of engagement. Two other literature reviews were carried out to understand further the partnership component of health promoting school models, and to show the extent of the knowledge gap existing in this area. The literature review on health promoting schools identifies, to a limited extent, the fundamental elements that specifically constitute school health partnerships at both the school and school board levels. Likewise, the scoping review that examines the knowledge-base on the different types of partnership for health promotion within school systems revealed an absence of in-depth knowledge on this topic. When setting out to fill this knowledge gap, an exploratory research methodology that was primarily qualitative in design was chosen. It included a participatory orientation, whereby a research steering committee of 10 public health managers provided guidance with the formulation of the research question, and with the data collection and interpretation stages of the research project’s public health sector phase. An online survey of school health partnership actors from all 36 Ontario public health units was carried out, along with semi-structured interviews with key school health informants from 32 of these public health units and from six school boards in the province. Although the contribution from the education sector was not as pronounced, school board participants corroborated the findings from participating public health professionals and provided additional insights to gain a clearer understanding of partnership challenges and how to strengthen school health partnerships. Thematic analysis of the collected data was performed based on both deductive and inductive reasoning. From the public health perspective, a school health partnership model for student well-being was constructed. This model was enhanced to some extent by the views of school board representatives. It is composed of two dimensions: the Partnership Generator, and the Collaboration Continuum. The Partnership Generator comprises four inter-related components, namely cross-sector engagement, connection, capacity, and continuity, with relationship building at its core. The cross-sector engagement component encompasses various elements that enrich engagement across the public health and education sectors, while the other three components consist of those elements that enable this engagement. The connection elements motivate school health partners to engage, whereas the capacity elements determine the extent to which engagement can take place. Finally, the elements that make up the continuity component maintain the momentum that motivated cross-sector engagement created based on the capacity that was made available through this engagement. Each of these elements contribute to a school health partnership’s strength. The Collaboration Continuum dimension refers to school health partners’ movement from one partnership arrangement to the next, with increasingly more extensive levels of cross-sector engagement. It includes three sets of supporting conditions to promote movement along the continuum, going from networking to cooperation and then to collaboration. The resulting model provides the knowledge base for assessing the strengths of a given school health partnership and for shedding light on which partnership areas would need to be further developed. Overall, this model offers any professional, from the field of public health, education, or mental health, a closer look at what would be required for a school health partnership to become truly collaborative and reach its maximum potential. It promises to inspire and guide school health partners in their pursuit of more meaningful engagement with one another toward greater improvements in the well-being of school-age children, in recognition of their shared responsibility.

A coleta seletiva de resíduos sólidos urbanos tem se destacado na agenda de discussões ambientais na medida em que aumenta a produção desses resíduos em função de fatores como: aumento populacional, acelerado processo de urbanização, mudanças tecnológicas e melhoria das condições socioeconômicas da sociedade. A realização desse serviço tem envolvido diversos atores, com destaque para o poder público municipal, catadores de materiais recicláveis e, em alguns casos, empresas de prestação de serviço de coleta de lixo. Em um contexto de transformações do papel do Estado, principalmente, no que se refere a uma maior abertura para dialogar com a sociedade, a solução para questões sociais – como a implantação de um programa de coleta seletiva - está relacionada ao estabelecimento de parcerias entre atores dos diferentes setores da sociedade, quais sejam: primeiro setor (estado), segundo setor (empresas) e terceiro setor (organizações da sociedade civil). É nesse contexto que se insere este trabalho, o qual tem o objetivo de analisar o alinhamento entre as propostas das organizações de catadores de materiais recicláveis e as propostas dos demais integrantes que compõem a parceria institucionalizada da coleta seletiva de Uberlândia/MG relativas à consecução dessa atividade. Para tanto, utilizei métodos de análise de documentos, entrevista e, principalmente, a técnica do shadowing, no intuito de compreender, sob a perspectiva de cada ator, seus objetivos quanto ao serviço a ser realizado, buscando identificar os consensos/dissensos existentes entre os objetivos das organizações de catadores de materiais recicláveis e os demais integrantes. Como resultado da pesquisa, identifiquei um considerável alinhamento entre as propostas das organizações de catadores estudadas, ACOPPPMAR e CORU, com a legislação municipal relacionada à gestão dos resíduos sólidos urbanos e à coleta seletiva. Já em relação aos demais parceiros, a Limpebras e a Secretaria Municipal de Serviços Urbanos da Prefeitura de Uberlândia, notei um alinhamento entre as propostas de ambas, porém, um desalinhamento com as propostas das organizações de catadores analisadas. A entrada em vigor, no final do ano de 2016, da Lei Municipal 12.504/2016, a qual tem a pretensão de favorecer o desenvolvimento das organizações de catadores participantes do programa municipal de coleta seletiva e do próprio programa em si, tem potencial para promover um alinhamento maior entre as organizações de catadores e a Secretaria Municipal de Serviços Urbanos. No entanto, constatei que a efetivação dessa lei, e o próprio alinhamento das propostas dos parceiros do programa municipal de coleta seletiva, dependerá da conscientização, convencimento e envolvimento de todos esses atores quanto às responsabilidades impostas por ela aos respectivos integrantes da parceria. / The selective collection of urban solid waste has been highlighted in the agenda of environmental discussions as the production of these wastes increases due to factors such as: population increase, accelerated urbanization process, technological changes and improvement of the social and economic conditions of society. The accomplishment of this service has involved several players, with emphasis on the municipal public power, collectors of recyclable materials and, in some cases, public waste disposal service companies. In a context of transformations in the role of the State, especially in relation to greater openness to dialogue with society, the solution to social issues - such as the implementation of a selective disposal program - is related to the establishment of partnerships between different sectors of society, namely: first sector (state), second sector (companies) and third sector (civil society organizations). It is in this context that this work is inserted, which aims to analyze the alignment between the proposals of organizations of collectors of recyclable materials and the proposals of the other members that make up the institutionalized partnership of the selective collection of Uberlândia/MG regarding the achievement activity. To do so, I used methods of document analysis, interviewing, and especially the shadowing technique, in order to understand, from the perspective of each player, their objectives regarding the service to be performed, seeking to identify the consensus/dissent between the objectives of recyclable materials collectors' organizations and other members. As a result of the research I identified a considerable alignment between the proposals of the organizations of collectors studied, ACOPPPMAR and CORU, with the municipal legislation related to the management of municipal solid waste and selective collection. Regarding the other partners, the Limpebras and the Municipal Department of Urban Services of the City of Uberlândia, I noticed an alignment between the proposals of both, but a misalignment with the proposals of the organizations of collectors analyzed. The entry into force, at the end of 2016, of Municipal Law 12,504/2016, which intends to favor the development of the organizations of collectors participating in the municipal selective disposal collection program and the program itself, has the potential to promote a greater alignment between the collector organizations and the Municipal Department of Urban Services. However, I have noticed that the implementation of this law, and the alignment of the proposals of the partners of the municipal selective disposal collection program, will depend on the awareness, conviction and involvement of all these players regarding the responsibilities imposed by it to the respective members of the partnership. / Dissertação (Mestrado)