1. Writing Effective Public Policy Papers:
39th Teaching Public Administration Conference
Rutgers University, Newark
May 2016
Writing Effective Public Policy Papers:
Professionalization by Community-Campus Partnerships
Erez Tzfadia
Public Policy and Administration, Sapir College, Israel
Visiting Professor at Rutgers Bildner Center and Jewish Studies

2. ‘Organizational’ Framework:
Sapir Collage
The Department of Public Policy and Administration
Under Graduate program
Final Project: Under graduate thesis – groups of 12 students, mentored by a professor on particular issue.
Writing effective Policy Papers for community-based organization

3. The Partner:
Shatil – the New Israel Fund Initiative for Social Change, has been on the cutting edge of building civil society and actively promoting democracy, tolerance, and social justice in Israel for 30 years. Shatil builds the capacity of hundreds of organizations through tailored consulting and providing valuable skills to Israel’s agents of social change, enabling them to develop long-term strategies to change policies.

4. Reasoning
Though Israel southern periphery enjoys intensive activism by community-based and grassroots organizations, many of them have limited resources to bring policy changes.
A Comprehensive Study on ‘real’ world of public policy
Improving students’ skills: To work in collaboration with value oriented organizations.
Organizations and communities realize how important public policy is to promote their interests and to bring change.
An effective way to explore local problem to officers and politicians.

5. Reasoning
“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea” (The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)
Writing policy paper is not a mere technical skill. It is the understanding that good policy is achievable, that students have the skills and knowledge for that, and that there are good reasons to bring policy change.

6. Road map for course: Call for proposal for policy papers:
WHEN?
WHAT?
WHO?
Summer
Call for proposal for policy papers:
Shatil
Admission: selecting 8 proposals
Shatil and professor
Coordination of expectations meeting
Shatil, professor, organization
Fall Semester
Students select a project – attentions paid to value-orientation
Students
Problem definition
Students & organizations
Spring semester
Alternatives, evaluation, chosen policy alternative, writing the paper
End of the year
Submission-correction-submission-correction-editing-submission-grade
Students & professor & editor
Lobbying the paper
Shatil & organizations

7. Teaching Methods
Annual course, 2 hours class weekly.
Teaching ‘stages’ in policy papers in class – the ’technical’ skills. Immediate implementation of each stage by the students in reference to their paper.
Routine of in-class presentations by the students.
Progressive writing: Routine of submissions of the chapters, that will finally be part of the policy paper.

8. Successes – ‘good’ examples’ What? By Whom?
Promoting urban agriculture
Local Authority
Night health centers in small-towns
Ministry of health and local authorities
Integration policy of Bedouin-Palestinian women in labor market
Israeli Employment service, industrial council
A coordinating model of NGOs in local authority
Federation of Local authorities in Israel
Economic abuse as domestic violence
Israel Parliament (amendment)
Improving welfare benefits of orphans to persons killed at work
Israel Parliament, Social security
Promoting drug courts
Ministry of Justice, Magistrate court.

9. Dilemmas
Values, Values and Values…
Coordination between 4 parts: students, organization, Shatil, academia (professor?).
Policy papers by undergraduate students? Liberal art in public policy and administration does not teach policy analysis. So how can the students analyze policy alternatives?
Writing skills.
Dis-functioning organizations…