“Integrated municipal strategies are aimed at providing all people with good conditions for a long and healthy life. Within the framework of such strategies, services in the municipality are bundled and coordinated and cross-sector communication and cooperation is strengthened.”1
Would you like to initiate an integrated municipal strategy in your community? Or have you already done so and would like to assess its preconditions for successful progress?
If yes, we suggest having a look at the RIMS Tool! The acronym RIMS stands for Readiness for establishing and expanding integrated municipal strategies of health promotion. It is a self-assessment tool published by the University of Applied Sciences Esslingen, Germany, that provides six topic areas that need to be considered before the beginning of an integrated municipal strategy:
- Initial situation
- Knowledge
- Networking
- Climate in the community
- Resources
- Level of information.
All topic areas are of equal importance.
The RIMS tool is a group work method that comes with a comb-shaped board that assigns colors and a chronological order to the topic areas. Additionally, the tool comprises three question cards for each topic area. Along the comb circle, one topic area after the other is discussed in a group of professionals and local community actors with the help of the question cards. Usually, several successive meetings are held and facilitated by a consultant. After every meeting, results are compiled and tasks that should be done before the next meeting are assigned. Questions, notes and any other findings can be noted in a workbook that comes with the tool. The tool helps strengthening the exchange between professionals, their networking, creation of mutual transparency and helps making the process of setting up an integrated municipal strategy manageable.
The RIMS tool was applied in the “Integrative action on adolescence” implementation site in Greece within JA PreventNCD. To adapt the tool to the local context, it was translated into Greek and was embedded into already planned stakeholder meetings and implemented through facilitated small-group discussions, allowing participants to relate the six topic areas directly to local priorities and existing practices. The use of question cards supported structured yet flexible dialogue, making the tool easier to apply within the available meeting framework. Participants included members of the pilot’s Core Group and the Health Network of Stakeholders, representing professionals involved in adolescent health and related sectors.
During the first stakeholder meeting in May 2025, participants were divided into small groups, each focusing on all six topic areas of the RIMS tool. One designated professional per group recorded key points and reflections in the RIMS workbook. At the end of the session, the documented inputs were presented and discussed in plenary, encouraging shared understanding and cross-group exchange.
Overall, the RIMS tool was well accepted by participants. They appreciated its structured methodology, which facilitated comprehensive reflection, stakeholder engagement, and identification of gaps and opportunities. The outcomes of the tool were further utilized during the second meeting in October 2025, where a summary of findings was presented and new tasks and follow-up actions were assigned.
However, the implementation did not fully go as expected in terms of time management. The tool proved to be relatively lengthy, requiring several hours of dedicated discussion, which was not feasible for all participants. This was identified as the main obstacle during use. To address this challenge, the facilitation team reduced the time allocated to each topic area, ensuring the process remained productive while better aligning with participants’ availability.
Authors
Annegret Dreher, Jennifer Hubrich, Christina Plantz
Federal Institute of Public Health, Germany
Alexia Prasouli, Maria Karalexi
Institute of Child Health, Greece
References
1. Wihofszky, P., Layh, S., Hofrichter, P., Jahnke, M. & Göldner, J. (2020). Readiness for establishing and expanding integrated municipal strategies of health promotion (RIMS). Esslingen/Hamburg.