In 2022, the NCCHPP collaborated with Dr. Erica Di Ruggiero to publish Governing for the Public’s Health: Governance Options for a Strengthened and Renewed Public Health System in Canada, a report commissioned by the Office of the Chief Public Health Officer (CPHO) as one of four independent reports informing the 2021 CPHO Report on the State of Public Health in Canada. This report called for renewed attention to governance to ensure responsive, resilient, equitable, and sustainable public health systems, and emphasized leadership at the individual, organizational, and system levels.
While much needed attention has been placed on individual-level competencies, organizational-level leadership competencies are also necessary to ensure an effective workforce, and equitable system-level public health governance. Building on those findings, a recently completed CIHR-funded multi-method study identified the first-ever set of organizational leadership competencies for public health system governance in Canada. This study is led by Dr. Di Ruggiero in collaboration with Dr. Madelyn Law, Shinjini Mondal, Kian Rego and Garima Talwar Kapoor and others, to learn more, click here.
Using a scoping review, key informant interviews, a modified Delphi survey, and deliberative dialogues with public health leaders, the team defined 20 competencies across eight domains, including:
- Systems thinking
- Policy development, implementation, and evaluation
- Partnership and collaboration
- Anti-oppression and decolonization
- Organizational learning
- Oversight
- Resource stewardship
- Legal authority
The NCCHPP is pleased to collaborate in disseminating and mobilizing these findings to strengthen leadership capacity and governance across Canada’s public health systems. This work complements ongoing national efforts to renew and align public health competencies and workforce development.
Resources:
- Scoping review: Organizational Leadership Competencies for Public Health System Governance: A Scoping Review
- Based on the data presented in the scoping review, the team developed an infographic that provides an at-a-glance overview of organizational-level leadership competencies. To view the infographic, click here.
- Other knowledge products (forthcoming) – two peer-reviewed articles are currently under review.
