Archived Results at a Glance–Evaluation of the Innovation Strategy 2014-15 to 2018-19

Office of Audit and Evaluation

Program Context

The Centre for Health Promotion within the Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention Branch launched the Innovation Strategy in 2009-10 to test and deliver evidence-based population health interventions.
The program funds projects under two priority areas: mental health promotion and achieving healthier weights. Funded projects aim to generate information on what works, for whom, and in what context.
Funding is provided in three phases:

• Phase 1: initial design, development, testing, and delivery of the interventions (12-18 months);
• Phase 2: full implementation, adaptation, and evaluation (up to 4 years); and
• Phase 3: scale up to expand the reach and impact of promising interventions (over 3 years).

Expenditure: $34.2 M - 2014-15 to 2018-19

Evaluation Approach

This evaluation assessed Phase 2 and Phase 3 activities of PHAC’s Innovation Strategy from April 2014 to March 2019. Data collection activities took place from February 2019 to June 2019. OAE applied a SGBA+ lens to its analysis where appropriate.

WHAT THE EVALUATION FOUND

• The program’s funded projects improved protective health factors and healthy behaviours in the areas of mental health promotion and achieving healthier weights.
• Fostering partnerships was an integral component to the success of projects in terms of delivery, implementation, scale-up, and sustainability.
• Funded projects generated knowledge on effective public health approaches and stakeholders used this knowledge to improve health behaviours and well-being.
• There is evidence that the program helped foster interventions that are both scalable and sustainable.
• The program was unique in its approach to funding. For example, the length of funding (up to nine years), the focus on evidence generation, the evaluation and scaling up of  interventions, and a phased approach to funding.

Recommendation and Lessons Learned

• Recommendation : Promoting the Innovation Strategy, including the development, adaptation, implementation, and results of promising population health interventions.
• Having strong and vested partners was key to the delivery, implementation, scaling up, and sustainability of projects in both streams. These partnerships led to a two-way exchange of knowledge that was valuable in terms of improving practices.
• Incorporating evaluation expertise in each funded project ensured that interventions were tested to better understand the impacts of their activities, adding to the evidence base on effective approaches. The program provided support to project recipients to enhance their understanding of what is meant by “scale-up,” allowing them to take the necessary steps to expand their interventions and enhance sustainability.
• The phased approach of the Innovation Strategy built in flexibility from the outset to allow the program to identify and learn from what is working and what is not at the end of each phase. This then allowed the program to make course corrections, as needed, to ensure the overall success of the program. 
• It takes time to design, implement, adjust, and evaluate population health interventions. The length of funding (up to nine years) was seen as especially essential for this type of program, since projects were trying to create long-lasting system-level changes that can only be achieved through years of committed investment.