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Policy Briefs

A flexible tool for research communications

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Gala Díaz Langou – CIPPECNick Scott - ODI

15 June 2011

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Planning policy briefs: communications activities

• Policy Briefs are one of many communications tools

Source: CIPPEC and GDN’s Comparative Analysis of think tanks in Asia, Africa and Latin America

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Planning policy briefs: communications activities

• Timing is important

• When do policy-makers use scientific information in the policy cycle?

Becoming familiar with policy briefs

What they are, how do they work?

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Becoming familiar with policy briefs

• Policy Briefs are the most popular form of publication in think tanks. Why? Because they can help bridge the large gaps between the research and policy communities

Source: CIPPEC and GDN’s Comparative Analysis of think tanks in Asia, Africa and Latin America

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Becoming familiar with policy briefs: an exercise

• Divide into groups – decide who will report back• There are covered Policy Briefs hidden on each table.

DON’T LOOK YET!• When we say ‘GO’, you will have TWO MINUTES to

read through the policy brief (you may want to take notes)

• After two minutes, hide the Policy Brief again. Now write down (in groups) the answers to the following questions (five minutes – no peeping) ...:

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Becoming familiar with policy briefs: an exercise

• Write down (in groups) the answers to the following questions (five minutes – no peeping):– What issue is the policy brief aiming to change,

validate or inform on?– What recommendations are made?– Who do you think is the audience for this brief?

• Each group will present their answers (2.5 minutes/group)

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Becoming familiar with policy briefs: types of policy briefs

• Different types of policy briefs:– Policy Briefs as a memo– Policy Briefs as a publication– Policy Briefs as a marketing tool / handout– Policy Briefs as a targeted research summary

• What type of policy brief developed can depend on the objectives and messages of a piece/pieces of research (for example, your evaluations), the audience identified, the authors of the brief, the specific context the work is undertaken in and what other communications activities are being planned.

Planning policy briefs

Increasing impact by identifying audience, objectives, messages, authors, context and wider

communications plans

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Planning policy briefs: considering the objectives

Analyse an issue / put an issue in the public agenda

Recommend on an issue / advocacy

Identify and systematize the different Law projects that promoted the creation of an universal income for childhood

Propose modifications to the Universal Family Allowance per Child in order to make it universal

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Planning policy briefs: considering the objectives

Analyse an issue / put an issue in the public agenda

Recommend on an issue / advocacy

Describes a problem or situation, analyses causes and points out options to improve the situation.

Gives a clear opinion on a specific relevant topic in a particular moment and proposes a certain action

Presents alternatives to solution without suggesting the best one; offering costs and benefits from each alternative.

Shows the author position as proposes a solution from a group of different alternatives and rejects the other options with arguments.

Is oriented to a general audience (technical concepts explained)

Is oriented to an expert audience

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Planning policy briefs: considering the context

Monitoring and Evaluation

Agenda Setting Decision

Making

Policy Implementation

Policy Formulation

Civil Society

DonorsCabinet

Parliament

Ministries

Private Sector

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• Who is the brief aimed at?• Does the audience know us? • How much does the target

audience know about the issue? • How do they perceive the issue?• What questions do need answers to?• How open are they to your

message(s)?

Planning policy briefs: considering the audience

Common audiencesNon-academic / non-specialistDecision-makers who may have varying degrees of expertise on a given issueIn certain cases may target practitionersNot usually general public

The shoes of your audience

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Policy-makers views:• Do present evidence-

informed opinions• Don’t shy away from

opinion and value judgements

• But signpost which content is subjective and which is objective

Planning policy briefs: considering the audience

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• What do we know?• What are institutional

limitations (knowledge, messaging)?

• What are our areas of credibility?– The writers– The organisation

Planning policy briefs: considering the authors

Types of author(s)

ResearchersPolicy-oriented research institutesThink tanksCivil society organisationsAdvocacy organisationsInternational NGOsMultilateral organisationsGovernment bodiesNetworks/ coalitions of any of the above

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• Working on thirty themes in international development

• 50 years of history• Based in UK, where

international development is a niche area of interest

• Work is demand-led consultancy from generally non-political actors (civil service, for example)

• Working on 20 areas of Argentine public policy.

• Fairly young – 11 years.• Based across the road from

key audience: Argentine congress (with direct access to them)

• Work is demand-led consultancy from political actors

Planning policy briefs: considering the authors

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ODI

• Design to make people pick them up

• Key points – three short statements, key messages

• Boxes to indicate related but not integral content (case studies, methodology)

• Policy implications or recommendations

• References / useful resources

• Authors not given prominence

CIPPEC• Executive summary to

transmit key arguments without reading whole document.

• Problem description / diagnosis of the situation

• Chart of policy options presenting different views to highlight and acknowledge key actors

• (Conclusions and results)• Policy recommendations• References and authors

Becoming familiar with policy briefs: our policy briefs

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• Potential sections of a policy brief, and some reasons to include them:– Executive summary (allow people to see

argument without getting put off by length: interest them to read on)

– Title (punchy to attract attention or descriptive to highlight specific issue being tackled)

– Introduction (explain importance of issue, create curiosity about the brief)

– Policy options and costings (show the problem and alternatives has been fully considered)

Planning policy briefs: choosing structure and content

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• Potential sections of a policy brief, and some reasons to include them:– Results and conclusions (highlight evidence

base)– Implications or recommendations (offer direct

or indirect areas for action)– Methodology (can convey authority, credibility,

weight and tone)– References and useful resources (highlight

evidence base and offer routes for further reading)

Planning policy briefs: choosing structure and content

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• Format & design can:– Engage people to pick a policy brief up

(photographs, pull quotes)– Highlight crucial information (title and

topic, recommendation or key points, sidebars)

– Separate content, such as core and additional text (for example, methodology and case studies)

– Convey authority (by styling of through branding and use of logos)

– Show information in different ways (for example, graphs and charts)

Planning policy briefs: the role of design

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Planning policy briefs: considering the objectives

Planning policy briefs: presenting your argument

• What do you want to say, and to whom?– Summarise the main point, argument or line of

reasoning into one or two clear and accessible sentences

• Messaging is about prioritisation, not about ‘dumbing down’

• Messages should be both clear and consistent, and should tell a coherent story

Planning policy briefs: presenting your argument

The elevator pitch

ExerciseThe elevator pitch tool

• Write your 3 key messages (5 minutes)

• Split into pairs – one of you is a policy maker that you meet in the lift, going from the 1st to the 12th floor. You have 2 minutes to pitch your key messages. Switch. (4 minutes – 2 minutes each)

Before we finish…

The views presented here are those of the speakers, and do not necessarily represent the views of ODI, CIPPEC or our partners.

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www.odi.org.ukwww.cippec.org

gdiazlangou@cippec.org

n.scott@odi.org.uk