Enabling evidence-led collaborative systems-change efforts: an adaptation of the collective impact approach

Abstract

Abstract This article conveys the results of a three-year ethnographic study of a pan-Canadian community–university collaboration to prevent and end youth homelessness. The collaboration adapted aspects of a collective impact (CI) approach to pursue a large-scale shift in how youth homelessness is addressed in Canada. The objective of this article is to codify and share the model developed and implemented by the community–university collaboration as an opportunity for ongoing adaptation and learning among others undertaking similarly complex and collaborative systems-change efforts. Findings suggest a CI approach is unlikely to be suitable for large-scale innovation-oriented initiatives, and that context-specific adaptations of the model should be encouraged. To what is already known about collaborative multisectoral partnerships, this article reveals the importance of strategic information sharing, targeted and flexible research and knowledge mobilization efforts, and ongoing attentiveness to the relational dimensions of collaborative evidence-informed systems-change efforts.