Terms of Reference

Click here to download the CCYHC Terms of Reference (PDF 143KB).

Background

Five national organizations have joined together to create a coalition to further advance the cause of child and youth health in Canada. The Canadian Child & Youth Health Coalition provides a powerful framework to stimulate new knowledge development, promote the application of this knowledge to practice, training and education, and strengthen national advocacy to improve the health and health care of children and youth.

The Coalition’s partner organizations (listed below) are engaged across the spectrum of new knowledge development through research, dissemination, translation and application of this knowledge to practice, and support for the development of the professionals required to achieve these goals. They share many common goals and objectives, while they each hold distinct mandates. Increasingly these organizations have recognized the important opportunities for national collaboration:

• Canadian Association of Paediatric Health Centres (CAPHC)
• Canadian Child Health Clinician Scientist Program (CCHCSP)
• Council of Canadian Child Health Research (CCCHR)
• Paediatric Chairs of Canada (PCC)
• Pediatric Surgical Chiefs of Canada (PSCC)

Together, these five organizations see the establishment of a new coalition as providing opportunities to:

• have a greater impact on improving the health of children and youth;
• have a greater impact on public policy and research priorities;
• improve clinical practice based on evidence; and
• learn from each other and appreciate issues from different perspectives.
  

Focus and Purpose

The Coalition will uphold the following principles as it carries out its mandate:

Operating Principles

• Respect the mission, goals, objectives and operating principles of each of the Coalition partner organizations which are collectively committed to fostering national collaboration;
  
• Promote the fact that health and related services for children and youth must be provided via a multi-disciplinary approach;
• Promote and facilitate collaborative opportunities that will enhance the capacity of the Coalition partner organizations to achieve goals and objectives held in common;
• Optimize the collective advocacy voice of the participating organizations at the national level;
• Actively seek alliance with other organizations and partners that share or support the goals of the Coalition to engage in specific activities to achieve the Coalition’s objectives;
• Link with other national and provincial child and youth organizations, as appropriate, to address the broader issues of child and youth health and well-being;
• Engage in activities that are based on the needs of children and youth;
• Engage in activities as a coalition that benefit from the synergy of working together, while respecting the need for the individual organizations to maintain and develop their own related activities;
• Shared leadership within the Coalition means that different partner organizations will take leads for different activities at different times;
• Respect the unique expertise, responsibilities, capacity and independence of each Coalition partner organization;
• Establish guidelines regarding an approval process for Coalition documents, statements, and positions.
• Conduct fundraising or sponsorship seeking with the highest regard for ethics ensuring that the Coalition only accepts unrestricted grants. Fundraising activities of the Coalition should in no way compromise the fundraising or sponsorship opportunities (for example: pharmaceutical companies) for any of the participating organizations; and
• Maintain a focus on priorities and add value to the work of partner organizations.

Coalition Goals

The Coalition has established the following six overall goals that will guide its work:

• Ensure rapid and efficient development of new knowledge through research in areas of national importance to the health and well-being of children and youth;
• Facilitate and support the application of evidence-based practice and policy;
• Stimulate the development and evaluation of models of practice, quality care and safety, supporting efficient, effective, and accessible systems of child and youth health care;
• Develop and sustain excellence in transdisciplinary child and youth health education, research and training;
• Advocate on national child and youth health, healthcare and policy issues that will benefit from the collective expertise and influence of the Coalition and inform policy; and
• Actively seek out new partners to strengthen the coalition’s capacity to achieve its goals.
  

Year One Objectives (April 1, 2005 – March 31, 2006)

The following objectives were established to focus the Coalition’s activities in year one:

• To establish a coalition and its operating principles through a memorandum of understanding among the partner organizations;
• To establish a Coalition secretariat to ensure the work of the Coalition is supported and able to proceed;
• To continue to meet together and dialogue on issues of child and youth health as the very fact that the partners are coming together to discuss key issues of child and youth health;
• To initiate the development of national child health indicators through a collaborative process including members of the Coalition and a variety of other relevant stakeholders, and to develop a strategy for review, approval, and dissemination; (Appendices A & B)
• To establish an approval, communication and dissemination strategy for work generated through the Coalition;
• Develop a strategy that will bring into the Coalition other organizations that can assist the Coalition in meeting its vision and goals;
• To establish a set of criteria and an approach for inviting other national organizations to join the Coalition or to become project-specific partners;
• To establish priorities and related project-specific proposals for year two and beyond through a strategic planning session

Potential Future Initiatives/Activities

The following is a list of potential initiatives/activities that the Coalition may choose to engage in over time:

• Focus on expanding clinical research capacity related to child health;
• Dialogue with practitioners to determine the kind of evidence that they need to guide practice (base research priorities on clinical information needs);
• Promote more evaluative research in the areas of service delivery models and health care professional teaching methods;
• Advocate with research agencies and other national organizations to give greater priority to child and youth health;
• Bring together researchers who may be isolated across the country to develop research networks;
• Create an inventory of research and practice-related activities in child and youth health in Canada;
• Define ways in which the Coalition can promote the adoption of evidence-based practices;
• Develop methods the Coalition could use to support knowledge transfer;
• Examine opportunities for the Coalition to engage in and/or support the development of health services research and program evaluation;
• Scan the environment to learn about who is engaged in national advocacy on child and youth health-related issues;
• Set criteria to determine specific issues for Coalition advocacy; and
• Establish guidelines regarding speaking publicly on behalf of the coalition.
  

Infrastructure and Resources

The Coalition is currently an alliance of five partner organizations. In order to advance the work of the Coalition, a formal structure has been established to facilitate the participation of each Coalition partner organization.

This structure, through its accountabilities and relationships, reflect and support the following principles:

• Established as a Coalition of organizations that are equally valued;
• A decision making process that is based on consensus, not requiring unanimity, of all participating Coalition members;
• Transparent, inclusive and timely decision-making;
• Maintains each member organization’s autonomy to take on other projects and priorities independent of Coalition activities;
• Open and effective communication among partners;
• Activities directly related to commonly-held goals and objectives; and
• Builds on strengths and increases the capacity of each partner organization.
  

Coalition National Committee

Each of the five partner organizations has designated two members to the Coalition National Committee. The Executive Directors or equivalent from the member organization will participate in the meetings of the National Committee. The National Coalition Committee meets on a regular basis to set priorities and evaluate the Coalition’s progress and development. Each partner organization has one vote.

To ensure that each organizational representative participates equally in decision-making and to ensure continuity over time, a memorandum of understanding has been signed by the corporate representatives of each organization.

Coalition Chair & Vice Chair

The Coalition National Committee has appointed a Chair (Dr Robert Armstrong) and Vice Chair (Ms. Marilyn Booth) for a two-year term of office according to memorandum of understanding (effective April 2005). The Chair and vice chair represent two of the partner organizations. Going forward, there will be a rotation through the member organizations.

The Chair will:

• Convene the meetings of the Coalition National Committee and will prepare the agenda with wide input from partners and others;
• Act as the spokesperson for the Coalition;
• Develop formal and informal relationships with other organizations committed to improving child and youth health;
• Maintain communications with partner organizations as appropriate;
• Chair the National Coalition Committees
• Provide support to Coalition staff

The Vice Chair may assist the chair in any of these responsibilities and/or act in the chair’s place when he/she is not available. The Vice Chair will be prepared to take the position of chair after his/her two-year term.

National Advisory Council

As the Coalition becomes established as an important player in the improvement of child health in Canada, i.e. within the first 3-5 years, it will set up a National Advisory Council.

This Council will bring together influential and prominent public figures, child and youth health experts and advocates. Its role will be to inform the Coalition of emerging issues, identify areas for collaboration, strengthen the collective voice for child and youth health, and build understanding of child health issues and solutions from different perspectives.

The National Advisory Council will also form a pool of experts and advocates, informed about the Coalition work, and who may wish to participate directly in Coalition initiatives.

As part of its annual meeting, the National Coalition Committee, will host a meeting of the National Advisory Council with the goal of contributing to priority selection and developing shared and/or complementary strategies.

Coalition Secretariat

A Coalition secretariat has been established to facilitate the work of the coalition. The secretariat office is located in Ottawa.

Coalition Coordinator

The Coalition coordinator is responsible for the coordination of the work of the Coalition that includes:

• Project management;
• Resource to the Coalition National Committee and Coalition Executive Committee;
• Communication with partners and coordinate communication among partners;
• Communication and public relations with other stakeholders;
  
• Resource and budget development and management; and
• Reporting on progress to date at all National Coalition Committee meetings/teleconferences.

Supervising Executive Director

An Executive Director of one of the partner organizations has been designated as the Executive Lead (Ms. Elaine Orrbine) The EL will be responsible for providing leadership and workplace infrastructure support, as well as attending to the human resource management component for the Coalition Coordinator.

The infrastructure of the CCYHC is generously supported by a grant from SickKids Foundation - National Grants Program.