Monitoring vested health partnerships

This article is based on the experience of the Public Health Agency of Canada Innovation Strategy (PHAC-IS) federal funding program in building Canadian population health partnerships.

The PHAC-IS addressed complex public health issues by funding evidence-based population health interventions in communities across Canada. These interventions were multifaceted and required the development of diverse "vested" partners to sustain systemic impact. This article explores the key elements of a vested partnership that affect systems change, and how to monitor the effects and achievements of vested partnerships as greater than what individual partners can achieve on their own.

Vested health partnerships have diverse partners that fit the system they are trying to change, a clear, public sectoral agenda, partner alignment, and pooling of both human and financial assets. A vested health partnership assumes strength in the diversity and governance of the partnership as well as in how it demonstrates collaborative systems change. It is important to monitor and measure both the partners and the synergy and collective impact of the partnership.

Short-term reach may need to be compromised for the brokering required to establish broad vested partners. Alignment, vestedness, and outcome measurement seem linked since strong partners that grow and adapt together change the way each sees and monitors the solution. Sophisticated partnerships, like a murmuration of starlings, act in concert to push learning and change practices, policies and societal norms. Capturing the movement of the flock is as important as counting the birds.