Population Health Fund

PHFN FUNDING PRIORITIES

Population Health Fund
National Management and Program Services Directorate
Public Health Agency of Canada

CHILDREN’S HEALTH

Remember to choose only one of the priorities listed below.

There is no disputing the importance of healthy child development. Children have specific developmental tasks, the completion of which prepares them for successful transition to school, community and family life, and work. At each developmental stage, children need supportive environments that challenge and enable them to reach their full potential as contributing members of society. Investing in healthy child development is more effective and less costly than dealing with the effects of poor child development later on.

The health and well-being of children depend on the safety and quality of their natural, built and social environments at home, at school and in the community. Proposals submitted for consideration under healthy child development should consider the needs of the child, as well as support the family and community development.

Priorities for action in this area include the following:

Healthy Living

Healthy behaviours and attitudes are formed during early childhood, middle childhood and adolescence. Parents and caregivers, physicians, teachers, communities, governments, national organizations, recreation centres, schools and others must work cooperatively and strategically to create stronger communities where healthy living (including healthy eating, healthy weights, physical activity, tobacco cessation, mental health and injury prevention) is the norm. The challenge is to find effective ways to promote, monitor and measure healthy living among children - including Aboriginal, immigrant and at-risk children - at all stages of development. This work could also contribute to policy development on healthy living.

Parenting Supports

As the basic unit of society, the family is responsible for providing the emotional, financial and material support essential for the healthy growth and development of children. Parenting programs support these tasks.

• There is a need to identify and synthesize best practices in educating parents of young children, and particularly "at-risk" parents. This project should include an assessment of the effectiveness of the Nobody's Perfect program and recommendations for improving the program based on a review of best practices.

• There is a need to identify and synthesize best practices on parenting educational resources, or develop education resources for parents of young children who are new to Canada and may be unfamiliar with parenting practices in Canada and Canadian laws on child rearing. The review of best practices should include activities/programs that respect cultural diversity, empower parents living in cultural minority communities to cope with parenting challenges, and enhance their capacity to parent and advocate for their children within schools, communities and health care settings.

• Acquiring and/or maintaining Aboriginal culture and language are important for many Aboriginal families and communities. There is a need to identify and synthesize best practices on parenting that are culturally relevant or develop culturally-relevant parenting resources for Aboriginal parents.

BEST PRACTICES

In response to the PHFN's program evaluation and stakeholder consultation, this solicitation supports the continuation of successfully completed PHFN-funded projects that fit a current priority through the theme of Best Practices.

The PHFN defines Best Practices as having four elements:

• innovative - they have developed new and creative solutions;
• make a difference - they have demonstrated a positive impact;
• sustainable - they continue even after the original funding has ended; and
• potential for replication - they can serve as models for generating policies and initiatives in various locations.

Proposals for best practices projects should focus on one of the following options:

1. strengthening the evaluation component of a completed project that has the potential to be identified as a best practice; or
2. supporting the replication of a completed project that has already undergone a rigorous evaluation and could be considered a best practice.

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