Small Health Organization Partnership Program
The mandate of the Small Health Organizations Partnership Program (SHOPP) is to foster partnership opportunities with small health charities and not-for-profit organizations with modest health research funding capacity by co-funding training and salary awards. The benefit of this program is that CIHR continues to offer partnership opportunities for small health organizations in order to increase their health research capacity. This program was given a three year funding commitment in 2005 as well as the direction to develop a program evaluation component to be undertaken after year 2.
The following program tools are offered for this program; Request for Applications are launched in the June cycle:
Program Objectives
The Small Health Organization Partnership Program is designed for charities and not-for-profit organizations that have modest health research funding capability, in order to:
- Strengthen the research support capacity of these organizations.
- Increase the connection of these organizations with their related health research communities.
- Provide a simple and efficient mechanism for CIHR to partner with these organizations.
Program Criteria
All potential partners must meet the following criteria in order to participate in this initiative:
- The organization must align with CIHR's strategic directions.
- The organization must be a Canadian registered health charity or not-for-profit health organization with a research mandate.
- The organization must have an annual research budget of less than $250,000.
- The organization must operate on either a national or provincial level.
- The organization must demonstrate that it has the resources to fulfill its commitments under the program.
Responsibilities
The Partnership Branch nurtures the partnership, including developing the collaborative agreement and RFA. Student, fellowship, or new investigator awards are supported on a one-to-one matching basis. The Partnership unit will work with the partner to identify Institutes that relate to them and will facilitate and encourage connections between the partner and the Institute(s) when appropriate.
In addition to the responsibilities described above, the Partnership Branch will:
- manage the communication for the program;
- serve as the initial point of contact regarding the SHOPP for organizations contacting CIHR;
- develop performance measures and evaluation framework in consultation with partners, researchers, the Institutes and the Evaluation and Analysis Branch; and,
- manage all aspects of the program including financial management
Research Capacity Development (RCD) Branch will:
- manage the competitions as well as the post-award administration;
- work with the Partnership Branch in the development of the evaluation framework
The partner organizations will:
- complete the "Intent to Partner" form before the beginning of the cycle (intents to partner must be communicated before April of every year)
- work with the Partnership Branch to ensure that all details of the RFA and collaborative agreement meet the needs of their organization and its research priorities, as well as the requirements of CIHR;
- forward their financial contribution to CIHR, once invoiced, who will hold the funds in trust until all financial commitments are disbursed;
- work and communicate with the RCD Branch in regards to the regular competition procedures and meeting timelines to determine relevancy review and final decisions regarding successful applicants; and
- work with the Partnership Branch in the development of the evaluation framework
The Institutes will:
- manage relations with partners who choose to align with them; and
- assist in the dissemination of the RFA to their research communities for organizations that align with them, under both approaches.
Contacts
For more information on the program and/or to request an "Intent to Partner" form, contact:
Gwendoline Simard
Partnerships Branch
Project Officer
613-941-6696
gsimard@cihr-irsc.gc.ca
