BACKGROUND: The Tobacco Free Cities (TFC) initiative (2008-2018), a collaboration by the Emory Global Health Institute, Georgia State University, and China's Think Tank Research Center for Health, aimed to establish effective and sustainable tobacco control programs in China. MPOWER-focused targeted training and technical assistance were provided to program staff in 22 selected large and influential cities to increase their skills to execute best practices in tobacco control. In 2023, an evaluation assessed the initiative’s impact on capacity building and leadership development among TFC program staff.
METHODS: Ten cities were selected for evaluation based on criteria including smoke-free policy status, location, economics, and population size. In 2023, TFC staff from these cities participated in qualitative interviews to assess their perceptions of improvements in public health and tobacco control skills and leadership development, resulting from participation in the TFC program. Questions were structured on a Likert scale with options including “not at all”, “some”, “a great amount” and “already very skilled”.
RESULTS: The most notable increase in skill advancement was in developing and implementing evidence-based tobacco control policies, with many indicating their skills increased “a great amount”. One-half indicated their skills increased “some” or “a great amount” in conducting situational analysis, and one-half reported “a great amount” improvement in data collection skills. TFC grantees perceived their participation in the program increased their leadership skills by “some” or “a great amount” in inspiring and motivating partners outside of their organization, in creating an environment where differences and opinions can be voiced, and in resolving conflict among staff, colleagues, and partners.
CONCLUSIONS: The TFC initiative created an effective model to build tobacco control capacity and improve leadership skills. These skills enabled program staff to effectively implement and sustain tobacco control programs and media campaigns, adopt and enforce smoke-free policies, and monitor and evaluate tobacco measures.