Advocacy CAMS Gathering November 2010 Fiona Caniglia

What is policy? Social policy is a process of ….allocation of material and human resources according to certain theories and values for the purpose of achieving ….social, economic, cultural and political outcomes in society. Jamrozik, 2005:45

What is policy?  Social policy is not a static thing, nor is the society in which the policy process takes place a static thing. Jamrozik, 2005

What is policy? “The scope of social policy includes all areas of personal and social life which contribute to the well-being of citizens or its absence.” Dalton et al, 1996

What is policy?  Policy is at the heart of how society is organised: Who gets what? Who wins? Who loses? Who is left to fend for themselves? Who decides? Dalton et al, 1996

What is policy?  Legislation: the most explicit and formalised policy  Written policy  Programs – policy implementation. Dalton et al, 1996:7-8

What is policy?  “In a climate where economic values and indicators dominate policy debate we emphasise that every economic and political decision has social implications.” Dalton et al, 1996:7

The dimension of power  Who wins?  Who loses?  Who decides? Political economy tradition. Dalton et al, 1996:7

What is the policy process?  Static elements (structures)  Dynamic elements  A contest over social goals in which there are many players/actors. Dalton et al, 1996:7

What is the policy process? Linear:  Planning  Formulation  Implementation and administration  Monitoring and evaluation Dalton et al, 1996:7

What is the policy process? Rational decision making  Problem identification  Analysis  Informing the public  Development of public goals  Building public support and legitimation  Program design  Implementation  Evaluation Gilbert and Specht in Dalton et al, 1996:16

What is the policy process? Strategic and analytical policy process:  The analytical and strategic elements of policy process  The assumption that society is complex  Research is important but has limits  Power is significant but not absolute Dalton et al, 1996:7

Personal, social and political self awareness  Understand and articulate your own standpoint  Ask a series of questions (of yourself, the process)  Locate your own interests, purposes and relationships to the issues  Analyse personal and professional goals  Analyse relevant issues and values  Analyse which strategies are ethical in gaining some power and influence Dalton et al, 1996:7

Underpinning goals and assumptions  All policy decisions involve assumptions about the nature of human beings and how societies actually work.  All policy positions taken by other stakeholders (including the non- government sector) also involve assumptions…..

An approach to policy development  Problem identification  Analysing the organisational, systemic and broader societal context, issues, debates and opportunities: key stakeholders, decision making processes, key milestones, relationships, structures, points of influence (formal, bottom up, top down, informal ….)  Analyse key questions: who wins, who loses, who decides  Consider how power and influence might be exercised  Develop a plan  Research - evidence

An approach to policy development  Engagement with stakeholders (anecdotes, case studies, opinions, experiences, sources of evidence, solutions)  Building movements, developing a policy community, alliances, partnerships  Maintain dialogue between research and engagement  Develop alternatives, agree with proposals, disagree and propose workable solutions.  Publish/submit/promote  Negotiations / dialogue  Evaluate outcomes  Continue re implementation and monitoring. Jamrozik, 2005

An approach to policy development  Publish: Submission, statement etc. Lean and mean What you want, who is responsible, qualifying statements (if relevant), time frame.

Common problems  Over-emphasis on issues and problems and when asked, we continue to talk about issues  Lack of evidence based research  Too much consultation and not enough engagement  Struggle to articulate solutions  Recommendations are overly general.

The policy process  Community development and community action theories and practices contribute a lot to mobilising citizens to participate in policy making. Dalton et al, 1996