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
Who
Who
Who
Who
gets what?
wins?
loses?
is left to fend for themselves?
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 nongovernment 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