Compassionate Communities and Cities Endorsement
Public Health Palliative Care International (PHPCI) Endorsement
Hundreds of cities and communities around the world are adopting a public health approach to palliative care. For cities this means working towards achieving the aspirations of the compassionate city charter (1)(2), sometimes encompassing several compassionate communities. For communities, this includes a community development approach, that enables them to be identified as compassionate communities.
PHPCI has developed the endorsement program to continue supporting the activities and development of public health palliative care internationally. Read below to learn more about the endorsement and how to apply.
What is the PHPCI endorsement?
Endorsement from the PHPCI recognises the work that a community (neighbourhood, village, town, digital community or a city) is doing to improve outcomes for people impacted by death, dying, loss and caregiving. Being endorsed provides a logo which can be used to show their participation in the movement and being listed on the PHPCI website. The logo can be used by partner organisations and community groups who are involved in the compassionate city and/or compassionate community initiative.
What are Common Principles?
A compassionate community focuses on naturally occurring communities, often a neighbourhood or village size or perhaps an online community. When applying for endorsement for a compassionate community PHPCI would expect to hear about citizen engagement and leadership, a grass roots movement or a co-created initiative.
A compassionate city will focus on policy change in the key areas outlined in the city charter,2 on system redesign and engagement with compassionate communities active in the city area. Therefore, the level of engagement with city leaders and key senior stakeholders such as health system leaders, education authorities etc is different and more complex for a city endorsement in comparison to a compassionate community.
Both a Compassionate Community and City recognize that:
Experiences of serious health challenges, caregiving, dying, and grieving are part of everyone's journey through life and can happen at any time.
Care for one another through these experiences is not a task solely for professionals but a societal responsibility in which everyone can participate.
They must work towards equity, celebrate diversity, and be inclusive of all people.
In addition to the above, compassionate cities demonstrate supporting and developing the 13 key social changes across the cities’ key institutions, networks and activities as detailed in the The Compassionate City Charter – Compassionate Communities UK.
Who Can Apply for an Endorsement?
Endorsement is open for an identifiable community where people and organisations have worked together to plan, develop and implement ideas that have increased the community’s ability to support each other on issues related to serious illness, caregiving, death, dying, and loss.
To apply for endorsement, the lead applicant should be a member of PHPCI. To find out more about membership please click Join Now — PHPCI
How Does the Endorsement Work?
Step 1: Complete the application form where we will ask you the activities of your initiative, your overarching goals and how you engage the community.
Members of the PHPCI Endorsement Sub-Group will review your application and aim to communicate next steps within four weeks.
You will be invited to:
Step 2: attend a meeting where we seek further information and/or offer support to help you be ready for Step 3, OR
Step 3: present your initiative to a panel of two to three members of the PHPCI Endorsement Sub-Group and PHPCI Council.
If you were invited to present your initiative, we will try to schedule this presentation within six weeks of that invitation. This enables PHPCI to coordinate a presentation date and allows time for you to prepare your presentation. If you require more time, please let us know so we can accommodate that.
At the panel presentation you will be invited to bring your initiative to life using videos, presentations, stories or whatever medium works for you. The panel will have the opportunity to ask any questions and answer any enquiries you might have.
After the presentation, a recommendation will be made by the Sub-group to the next scheduled PHPCI Council to either endorse the application or to provide feedback and support to help you further develop your initiative and resubmit at a later date.
**Please note the below resources are currently being built and will be available soon
Helpful resources
To help you prepare for endorsement, please review these resources and book onto one of our endorsement webinars:
A video talking about the ladder of participation and why this is important as part of endorsement and community development
A series of webinars / Q&A sessions
Videos of previous successful endorsement presentations
Example endorsement presentations from other communities
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1 A. Kellehear, Compassionate Cities : Public Health and End of Life Care, Oxfordshire: Routledge, 2005.
2 A. Kellehear, “Compassionate City Charter,” 2020. [Online]. Available: https://compassionate-
communitiesuk.com/the-compassionate-city-charter-3/. [Accessed 18 August 2025].