Abstract
Setting
The Public Health Agency of Canada Innovation Strategy (PHAC-IS) was a national strategic funding program designed to test, deliver, scale up and evaluate complex population health interventions to determine how they bring about change, the context in which they worked best and for which populations.
Intervention
The PHAC-IS experience provides an opportunity to reflect on the core competencies (skills, knowledge and attitudes) for strategic grantmakers to meet the goals of a national strategic funding program focused on population health intervention research.
Outcomes
A literature review, PHAC-IS content analysis, a document review and semi-structured interviews provided insight into a set of core competencies—organized by specific domains—that fostered a team focused on continuous improvement to apply learning and evidence from the funded projects to advance the goals of the strategic funding program.
Implications
Given its multiple complexities and based on the experience of the PHAC-IS team, it is proposed that funding programs aimed toward bringing change at individual and systems levels for population health promotion may draw upon a set of competencies incorporating the fields of strategic grantmaking; intervention research and evaluation; and public administration. The authors suggest that competency in the field of cultural safety is also pertinent to the successful management and leadership of public health programs, innovations and knowledge mobilization.
Résumé
Contexte
La Stratégie d’innovation de l’Agence de la santé publique du Canada (SI de l’ASPC) était un programme national de financement stratégique conçu pour mettre à l’essai, exécuter, mettre à l’échelle et évaluer des interventions complexes en matière de santé des populations dans le but de déterminer comment elles apportent des changements et de définir le contexte dans lequel ces interventions fonctionnent le mieux et pour quelles populations.
Intervention
L’expérience de la SI de l’ASPC donne aux bailleurs de fonds stratégiques l’occasion de réfléchir aux compétences essentielles (compétences, connaissances et attitudes) pour répondre aux objectifs d’un programme national de financement stratégique axé sur la recherche interventionnelle en santé des populations.
Résultats
Une analyse documentaire, une analyse du contenu de la SI de l’ASPC, un examen des documents et des entretiens semi-structurés ont permis d’avoir une compréhension d’un ensemble de compétences essentielles—organisées par domaines spécifiques—qui ont favorisé la mise en place d’une équipe axée sur l’amélioration continue pour appliquer les enseignements et les preuves des projets financés afin de faire progresser les objectifs du programme de financement stratégique.
Implications
D’après l’expérience de l’équipe de la SI de l’ASPC et compte tenu de leurs multiples complexités, on propose que les programmes de financement visant à apporter des changements au niveau des individus et des systèmes pour la promotion de la santé des populations puissent s’appuyer sur un ensemble de compétences intégrant les domaines de l’octroi de subventions stratégiques, de la recherche et de l’évaluation interventionnelles et de l’administration publique. Les auteures laissent entendre que la compétence dans le domaine de la sécurité culturelle est également pertinente pour la gestion et la direction fructueuses des programmes de santé publique, des innovations et de la mobilisation des connaissances.
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Data availability
All data, reports and materials were made available from the PHAC-IS funding program and project-level completed reports.
Notes
Renamed the Mental Health Promotion Innovation Fund and launched in 2019. https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/funding-opportunities/mental-health-promotion-innovation-fund.html.
A grant is defined as a transfer payment subject to pre-established eligibility and other entitlement criteria. A grant is neither subject to being accounted for by a recipient nor normally subject to audit by the department. The recipient may be required to report on results achieved (Government of Canada, 2016).
A contribution is defined as a transfer payment subject to performance conditions specified in a funding agreement. A contribution is to be accounted for and is subject to audit (Government of Canada, 2016). Note: In this article, the term grant includes both grants and contributions.
The word projects refers to the intervention research initiatives undertaken by individual grantees and all grantees together.
The word program describes work at the PHAC-IS level and organization level refers to the broader PHAC environment.
Population health intervention research “involves the use of scientific methods to produce knowledge about policy and program interventions that operate within or outside of the health sector and have the potential to impact health at the population level.” (Canadian Institutes of Health Research, 2012).
Rebaptisé Fonds d’innovation pour la promotion de la santé mentale et lancé en 2019. https://www.canada.ca/fr/sante-publique/services/occasions-financement/fonds-innovation-promotion-sante-mentale.html.
Une subvention s’entend d’un paiement de transfert effectué en fonction des critères d’admissibilité établis au préalable. Une subvention n’est ni assujettie à une reddition des comptes par le bénéficiaire, ni normalement sujette à vérification par le ministère. Le bénéficiaire peut être tenu de faire rapport sur les résultats obtenus (Government of Canada, 2016).
Une contribution est définie comme un paiement de transfert effectué sous réserve de conditions de rendement précisées dans une entente de financement. Une contribution est assujettie à une reddition de comptes et est sujette à vérification (Government of Canada, 2016). Remarque : Dans le présent article, le terme subvention comprend à la fois les subventions et les contributions.
On entend par projets les initiatives de recherche interventionnelle entreprises par les titulaires de subvention individuels et par tous les titulaires ensemble.
Le terme programme décrit le travail au niveau de la SI de l’ASPC, tandis que l’expression niveau organisationnel fait référence à l’environnement plus large de l’ASPC.
La RISP « comporte l’utilisation de méthodes scientifiques pour produire des connaissances sur les interventions, sous forme de politiques et de programmes, qui existent dans le secteur de la santé ou à l’extérieur de celui-ci et qui pourraient avoir une incidence sur la santé au niveau des populations ». (Canadian Institutes of Health Research, 2012.)
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the interviewees for their time to bring the core competencies to life with examples of strategic grantmaking in action. We also want to acknowledge the funded projects for their completion of annual reporting to inform the PHAC-IS and for their impact with individuals, families and communities. Thank you to the Innovation Strategy team for their review and insights with regard to this paper. Special thanks to Marie Chia who envisioned an article summarizing core competencies derived from the PHAC-IS experience.
Remerciements
Les auteurs aimeraient remercier les personnes interrogées pour leur temps consacré à donner vie aux compétences essentielles avec des exemples de subventions stratégiques en action. Nous tenons également à remercier les projets financés pour avoir complété les rapports annuels qui ont informé la SI de l’ASPC et pour leur incidence auprès des individus, des familles et des communautés. Merci à l’équipe de la Stratégie d’innovation pour son examen et ses points de vue concernant le présent document. Un merci spécial à Marie Chia qui a imaginé un article résumant les compétences essentielles découlant de l’expérience de la SI de l’ASPC.
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The Special Issue on the Public Health Agency of Canada-Innovation Strategy was funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada.
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Charlene Cook and Shannon Bradley Dexter. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Charlene Cook and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Publication of this article has been confirmed by the Director of the Division of Mental Health and Wellbeing at PHAC.
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The first author is a paid consultant contracted to complete this work, and the second author is a Government of Canada employee.
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Cook, C., Bradley Dexter, S. Core competencies for strategic grantmaking: lessons learned from the Innovation Strategy. Can J Public Health 112 (Suppl 2), 246–261 (2021). https://doi.org/10.17269/s41997-021-00516-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.17269/s41997-021-00516-5
Keywords
- Strategic grantmaking
- Population health
- Innovation
- Population health intervention research
- Grants and contributions
- Health promotion
- Public health
- Mental health
- Healthy weights
- Human resource competencies
- Public health human resources
- Team building
- Public sector renewal
Mots-clés
- Octroi de subventions stratégiques
- santé des populations
- innovation
- recherche interventionnelle en santé des populations
- subventions et contributions
- promotion de la santé
- santé publique
- santé mentale
- poids santé
- compétences en ressources humaines
- ressources humaines en santé publique
- renforcement de l’esprit d’équipe
- renouvellement du secteur public