Results at a glance: Evaluation of the National Collaborating Centres for Public Health 2014-15 to 2018-19

Introduction

• Created in 2004, the six National Collaborating Centres for Public Health (NCCPH) promote the use of scientific information for evidence-informed decision making to strengthen public health practices, programs, and policies in Canada.
• Between April 2014 and March 2019, total expenditures for all NCCPH activities were approximately $32.6M, with each Centre receiving about $970,000 annually.

What the evaluation found

• There is a continued need for knowledge translation services in public health and to foster relationships across the Canadian public health system. National Collaborating Centres (NCCs) differ from other organizations as they are non-governmental and national in scope.
• The NCCPH program mandate has evolved from focusing on strengthening public health capacity at the local level, to supporting decision and policy making at all levels of the public health system. Most, but not all, Centres have reflected this shift in their collaborations and target audiences.
• The NCCs were perceived by external key informants as a credible go-to source and their ability to network with different partners across the public health system was seen as one of their greatest values. There were many examples of NCCs' contributions to informing decision making and policy making.
• There were also many examples of NCCs' contributions to addressing emerging issues. However, the current process for developing annual work plans and budget reductions over time have limited their ability to be nimble.
• Collaborations occur regularly between two or three NCCs on a variety of initiatives. However, the requirement for all six NCCs to collaborate on signature projects was seen as diverting limited resources that could be used more meaningfully elsewhere.
• Overall, the Centres were seen to be operating efficiently on a relatively limited budget. However, the level of outputs and activities has been curbed over time as funding from the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has declined, suggesting there is an opportunity to maximize resource allocation and manage expectations.
• Current performance reporting requirements were seen as cumbersome and time consuming, especially considering the program budget reduction over time.
• There was limited interaction between PHAC and the NCCs, making it challenging for the NCCs to align annual work plans with areas of interest to PHAC, in order to foster collaboration and avoid duplication.

Recommendations and responses

1. Develop a collaborative two-way partnership between PHAC and the NCCs to promote greater awareness of each other's work and increase collaboration in areas of common interest.

Response: PHAC will formalize the mandate of the PHAC-NCC Executive Leads as key liaisons in order to enable strategic collaborations with the NCCs. PHAC will raise internal awareness of the NCCs' annual work, exchange on emerging public health issues, and foster collaboration between NCCs and PHAC programs.

2. Explore opportunities, as part of the contribution agreement renewal, to ensure that each NCC remains relevant to emerging public health sector needs in terms of issues addressed, range of collaborations, and targeted audiences.

Response: PHAC will identify and review key priority areas for knowledge mobilization with the NCCs. It will also work to the refine the renewal process, and review NCCs' annual work plans for their ability to address a broad range of actions reflecting key priorities.

3. Explore options for maximizing resource allocation to the NCCs and allow them to use those resources more efficiently to fulfill their core mandate.

Response: NCCs will no longer be required to commit to a 'signature' project involving all six Centres, but will be encouraged to collaborate among themselves on big projects, as they see fit. PHAC will proactively discuss changes in the NCCs' work plans and possible additional in-year funding to adapt to changes, and review current program monitoring and practices.

About the evaluation

The evaluation examined the relevance and performance of NCCPH activities from April 2014 to September 2018. Methods used included a review of program documentation, including financial and performance measurement data, and 78 interviews with internal and external key informants.