Creating Successful Collaboration Structures in Public Health Initiatives

April 28, 2026 | Sara Bell, Marta McMillion

Public health initiatives rely on strong partnerships to sustain momentum and achieve impact, but collaboration can stall when roles, structures, and relationships are unclear. Without intentional design, collaborative efforts risk misalignment, fragmented communication, and missed opportunities to fully engage partners.

This resource provides practical tools and guidance to help public health teams design, strengthen, and sustain effective collaboration structures. Highlighting the following, it is designed to support agencies in organizing partnerships, building trust, and aligning communication to advance shared goals:

• Clarifying Collaboration Structures: Outlines common structures — such as backbone entities, advisory bodies, and community-based implementation teams — and how they function together to support coordinated, inclusive, and effective action.
• Understanding Group Dynamics: Applies Tuckman’s stages of group development to help teams recognize where they are in the collaboration lifecycle and use stage-appropriate strategies to build trust, navigate tension, and strengthen performance.
• Organizing and Strengthening Partnerships: Introduces tools like the Partner Inventory, Engagement Pathways, Ecosystem Mapping, and “Who’s Missing?” tool to help teams understand partner roles, identify gaps, and intentionally expand and deepen engagement.
• Aligning Communication and Influence: Uses tools such as the Power-Interest Matrix, CLIP framework, and communication planning templates to help teams tailor engagement strategies, clarify influence and leadership dynamics, and maintain consistent, meaningful communication across partners.
• Putting Collaboration Into Practice: Offers actionable strategies — such as co-creating charters, using inclusive facilitation, building from local context, and reflecting on shared power — to help teams operationalize collaboration and sustain engagement over time.

By combining structured tools with relationship-centered practices, this resource helps public health teams build stronger, more coordinated partnerships that support effective and sustainable implementation.

Get the Resource (PDF)

Reviewed by Lindsey Myers, MPH, Vice President, Public Health Workforce & Infrastructure; Allen Rakotoniaina, MPH, Senior Director, Business Development Operations; Heidi Westermann, MPH, Director, Public Health Data Modernization & Informatics; Megan DeNubila-Griffin, MPH, Assistant Director, Chronic Disease & Health Improvement.