title: The imperative of strategic alignment across organizations: the experience of the Canadian Cancer Society's Centre for Behavioural Research and Program Evaluation.
abstract: The Canadian Cancer Society's Centre for Behavioural Research and Program Evaluation (CBRPE) is a national asset for building pan-Canadian capacity to support intervention studies that guide population-level policies and programs. This paper briefly describes CBRPE's experience in advancing this work in the field of prevention. The aim is to illuminate issues of central importance for advancing the goals of the Population Health Intervention Research Initiative for Canada. According to our experience, success in building the population intervention field will depend heavily on purposeful alignment across organizations to enable integration of research, evaluation, surveillance, policy and practice. CBRPE's capacity development roles include a) a catalytic role in shaping this aligned inter-organizational milieu and b) investing our resources in building tangible assets (teams, indicators, data systems) that contribute relevant capacities within this emerging milieu. Challenges in building capacity in this field are described.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Behavioural Research and Program Evaluation, University of Waterloo, Lyle S. Hallman Institute North, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1. cameron@healthy.uwaterloo.ca
authors.forename: Roy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cameron
authors.forename: Barbara L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Riley
authors.forename: H Sharon
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Manske
authors.forename: Kim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lamers-Bellio
mesh_terms: D035841:Behavioral Research; D002170:Canada; D055812:Community-Based Participatory Research; D003659:Decision Making, Organizational; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011050:Policy Making; D011634:Public Health; D011635:Public Health Administration; D055818:Public-Private Sector Partnerships / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012108:Research Personnel; D014837:Voluntary Health Agencies