Core competencies for strategic grantmaking: lessons learned from the Innovation Strategy

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.