Drafting Effective Policy Briefs

1. Drafting Effective Policy Briefs Pristina, 23-25 February 2011

2. Academic Papers vs Policy Papers • unidisciplinary • issue exploring • comprehensive • neutral • time uncritical • substantiated • as long as possible • multidisciplinary • problem-solving • focused • normative • time critical • speculative • as compact as possible

5. The Policy Brief • title • table of contents • abstract/executive summary • introduction • problem description/background • analysis • policy options • recommendations & conclusions • appendices, annexes • bibliography • endnotes

6. Titles: examples • Eyes on the Spies: reforming intelligence oversight in Canada • Security Sector Reform in the Balkans: a key to ending conflict • Addressing the Challenges of Law Enforcement in Africa • Gender Sensitive Police Reform in Post-conflict Society

7. Abstract • concise overview • shorter • get potential reader to read (Executive) Summary • detailed synopsis • longer • help reader who won’t read • CONTENT • Purpose of paper • Description of policy issue • Evaluation of policy alternatives • Recommendations & conclusions: explicit or nominal? • Does publisher require?

8. Introduction • Context of policy issue • Definition of issue • Statement of intent • Methodology & limitations of study • Road map of paper

9. Problem description Background • When & how has problem arisen? • What has driven this? • What has put this problem in the public realm? • Who has been affected by the problem? • What past policies have been deployed to deal with this problem? • What have been their outcomes?

10. Problem ANALYSIS Problem in current policy environment • What are the current legal, social, ethical, economic and political contexts & impacts of the problem? • What is the current extent of the problem? • What is currently being done to address it? • What is the attitude of stakeholders to the current approach? • Is current policy succeeding/failing – and how?

11. How to structure • Build a coherent argument that is convincing and easy to follow • Make clear links between and within all elements of the argument • Develop each element of the argument:

12. How to paragraph • Essential building blocks for developing argument • One main idea per paragraph • Topic sentence • Coherence through paragraph • Shorter is better

13. Policy options • outline, compare & evaluate possible options • identify preferred option • provide arguments for choice • explain criteria used in this decision • establish foundation for recommendations

14. Recommendations & Conclusions • Synthesis of major findings • Policy recommendations: steps that need to be taken to implement preferred policy option • separate section for each? • numbered ? • indented? • bulleted ? • italicised ? • Concluding remarks: close the argument, return focus to broader context of problem

15. What are the first steps? • Draft working statement of intent/purpose: central issue key message main approach

16. QUESTIONS FOR EVALUATING POLICY BRIEFS • Some of the material for this presentation has been drawn from “Eoin Young and Lisa Quinn, Writing Effective Public Policy Papers, • Open Society Institute, Budapest 2002”