Improving NBD Policy Engagement

Naved Chowdhury Nicola Jonesn.chowdhury@odi.org.uk n.jones@odi.org.uk

25-27 April, 2007Naivasha, Kenya

Expectations

• Introduction

• Your name

• Your work

• What is your expectation from this workshop?

• 2 minutes!!

Overseas Development Institute

• Development Think Tank

• 60 researchers

• Research / Advice / Public Debate

• Rural / Humanitarian / Poverty & Aid / Economics / Policy Processes

• DFID, Parliament, WB, EC

• Civil Society

For more information see: www.odi.org.uk

RAPID Group• Promoting the use of

research-based evidence in development policy

• Research / Advice / Public Affairs & Capacity-building

• Programmes:– Research for Policy– Progressive Policymakers– Parliamentarians– Southern Think Tanks

for further information see: www.odi.org.uk/rapid

Case Studies• Detailed:

– Sustainable Livelihoods– Poverty Reductions Strategy

Processes– Ethical Principles in

Humanitarian Aid– Animal Health Care in Kenya– Dairy Policy in Kenya– Plant Genetic Resources

• Summary– GDN x 50– CSPP x 20– Good news case studies x 5– Mental health in the UK

ODI and Global Civil Society Civil Society Partnerships Programme

Outcomes:• CSOs better understand evidence-policy process• Capacity development to support CSOs’ policy

influencing efforts• Improved knowledge base for CSOs on policy

influencing • Global collaboration and experience sharing about

research/policy/practice linkages

Aim: Strengthened role of southern CSOs in development policy processes

http://www.odi.org.uk/cspp/

CSPP Objectives Goal

Development policy is more pro-poor

Purpose• Southern CSOs make more use of research-

based evidence to influence the establishment of pro-poor policy

• ODI engages more effectively with southern CSOs and other stakeholders to make more use of ODI’s research-based evidence to influence the establishment of pro-poor policy.

Partnership Activities

Network:• Interactive community

website• Information and knowledge

exchange within and across regions

• General support

Capacity-building:• staff exchanges• visiting fellows to ODI and

Southern institutes, • Southern participants in

global policy events• Training and ToT – for CSOs

and policy-makers• Mentoring support to action

research projects

Dissemination of lessons:• Ongoing learning• “How to do it” guidelines • New research on the

research-policy-practice interface

Collaborative projects:• Small-scale ARPs• Continued support to

existing projects• One new global

collaborative project each year

Global Consultation• Workshops were held in Africa (Southern, Eastern and

West), Asia (South and South East) and Latin America (Southern Cone and Andes) and organized in partnership with local CSOs

• Case studies: – Budget Monitoring (Zambia), – Community Participation in Waste Management (Ghana), – Rice pricing (Bangladesh), – Public participation (Indonesia) etc.– Sub-national elections and journalist capacity building

(Peru)

Key factors for CSO influence (Malawi)Constraints• Lack of capacity• Lack of local

ownership• Translating data into

evidence• Limited data• Donor influence• Crises• Political factors

Strengths• Evidence of the value

of CSO involvement • Governments

becoming more interested in CSOs

• CSOs are gaining confidence

• Strength of networks• Opportunities for

media engagement • Political factors

What do CSOs need to do?

• Define clear roles and responsibilities, especially in networks

• Financial and human resources to facilitate policy influencing – both constructive engagement and confrontational approaches

• Effective communication: develop different materials for different target audiences

• Engage the media

• Engage with donors so that they can develop a more holistic understanding of development challenges

• Consult with policymakers (elected officials and civil servants) from the outset

Group work in regional teams • What do you understand by the term “policy

influencing” or “policy engagement”?

• What are the most important policy processes for CSOs to influence with regard to the Nile River Basin? – Please give examples at regional and national levels

• How are you trying to influence water policy in your country?

• What are the key opportunities for CSOs and challenges in your country to influence water policies?

• Plenary: Opportunities and Challenges for influencing water resource policies in Nile Basin countries

Overview• What is policy?

• What explains policy change?

• What is the relationship between researchers and policy makers?

• Tools to understand the political context of policy change

• Tools to influence the policy process

Merilee Grindle’s Approach1. Identify the policy reform – the decision to

be made

2. Political Interests Map – the actors and “politics”

3. Institutional Contexts Map – the organisations and processes involved

4. Circle of influence graphic – supporters and opponents and their power

5. Policy process Matrix – what needs to be done when

6. Communications Strategy

Policy – some meanings• Label for field of activity/space

• Expression of general intent

• Specific proposals

• Decisions of government

• Formal authority/legislation

• Program

• Output or outcome

• Model or theoryHogwood & Gunn, 1984

According to Peter John -

‘the interplay between institutions, interests and ideas.’

John P (1998) Analysing Public Policy. London: Cassell.

Policy Processes

Identify the problem

Commission research

Analyse the results

Choose the best option

Establish the policy

Evaluation

Implement the policy

Monitoring and Evaluation

Agenda Setting

DecisionMaking

Policy Implementation

Policy Formulation

Policy Processes

Civil Society

DonorsCabinet

Parliament

Ministries

Private Sector

…in reality…• “The whole life of policy is a chaos of

purposes and accidents. It is not at all a matter of the rational implementation of the so-called decisions through selected strategies 1”

• “Most policy research on African agriculture is irrelevant to agricultural and overall economic policy in Africa2”

• “Research is more often regarded as the opposite of action rather than a response to ignorance”3

1 Clay & Schaffer (1984), Room for Manoeuvre; An Exploration of Public Policy in Agricultural and Rural Development, Heineman Educational Books, London2 Omamo (2003), Policy Research on African Agriculture: Trends, Gaps, and Challenges, International Service for National Agricultural Research (ISNAR) Research Report No 213 Surr (2003), DFID Research Review

Evidence

Experience & Expertise

Judgement

Resources

Values and Policy

Context

Habits & Tradition

Lobbyists & Pressure Groups

Pragmatics & Contingencies

Factors influencing policy making

Source: Phil Davies Impact to Insight Meeting, ODI, 2005

Different Notions of Evidence

• Colloquial (Contextual)

• Anything that seems reasonable

• Policy relevant

• Timely

• Clear Message

Policy Makers’ Evidence

Source: Phil Davies Impact to Insight Meeting, ODI, 2005

• ‘Scientific’ (Context free)

• Proven empirically

• Theoretically driven

• As long as it takes

• Caveats and qualifications

Researchers’ Evidence

Policy process

• Agenda setting – why some issues considered by policy makers

• Formulation – which policy alternatives and evidence is considered, why evidence ignored

• Adoption – who is involved in deciding, formal or informal decision-making

• Implementation – who will implement, how will implementers change policy to suit their aims, are implementers involved in decision-making

• Evaluation – whether and why policies achieve their aims

The way policy is initiated, developed, negotiated, communicated, implemented

Policy context

• Situational: change of leadership, focusing events, new evidence, etc.

• Structural: resource allocation to intervention, organization of service delivery – public private mix, etc.

• Cultural: prevailing attitudes to situation of women, technology, equity, tradition, etc.

• International: place of intervention on international agenda, aid dependency, levels and modalities, migration of staff, ideas and paradigms, etc.

Systemic factors which effect policy

Political Context Analysis • Systematically gather political intelligence

associated with any policy reform– Contextual opportunities & constraints– Formal & informal processes through which

decisions made– Identify stakeholder groups– Assess political resources of groups– Understand interests, positions and

commitments of groups

• Systematically assess political palatability of specific policy alternatives

The overall framework

• Identify the problem• Understand the context• Identify the audience(s)• Develop a SMART Strategy • Identify the message(s) • Resources – staff, time, partners & $$• Promotion – tools & activities• Monitor, learn, adapt

How?

Who?

What?

Policy Mapping Tools

• Policy Process Mapping

• RAPID Framework

• Stakeholder Analysis

• Force-Field Analysis

• Outcome Mapping

• More complex tools:– Drivers of Change– Power Analysis– World Governance Assessment

More Complex Tools• Civil Society Index (CIVICUS) • Country Policy & Institutional

Assessment (World Bank)• Democracy and Governance

Assessment (USAID) • Drivers of Change (DFID) • Governance Questionnaire (GTZ) • Governance Matters (World Bank Institute) • Power Analysis (Sida) • World Governance Assessment

Practical Tools

Overarching Tools - The RAPID Framework - Using the Framework - The Entrepreneurship

Questionnaire

Context Assessment Tools- Stakeholder Analysis - Forcefield Analysis - Writeshops - Policy Mapping - Political Context Mapping

Communication Tools - Communications Strategy- SWOT analysis - Message Design - Making use of the media

Research Tools - Case Studies - Episode Studies - Surveys - Bibliometric Analysis- Focus Group Discussion

Policy Influence Tools- Influence Mapping & Power Mapping - Lobbying and Advocacy - Campaigning: A Simple Guide - Competency self-assessment

Problem Tree Analysis

• The first step is to discuss and agree the problem or issue to be analysed.

• Next the group identify the causes of the focal problem – these become the roots – and then identify the consequences – which become the branches

• The heart of the exercise is the discussion, debate and dialogue that is generated as factors are arranged and re-arranged, often forming sub-dividing roots and branches

SWOT Analysis• What type of policy

influencing skills and capacities do we have?

• In what areas have our staff used them more effectively?

• Who are our strongest allies?

• When have they worked with us?

• Are there any windows of opportunity?

• What can affect our ability to influence policy?

Strengths Weaknesses

Opportunities Threats

•Skills and abilities•Funding lines•Commitment to positions•Contacts and Partners•Existing activities

•Other orgs relevant to the issue•Resources: financial, technical, human•Political and policy space•Other groups or forces

Stakeholder analysis• Stakeholder: individuals, groups, or organizations that

have an interest in the project and can mobilize resources to affect its outcome in some way. Stakeholders are often specific to each policy reform and context, and should not just be assumed.

• Stakeholder analysis: tool used to identify and understand the needs and expectations of major interests inside and outside the project environment in order to plan strategically. It is critical for assessing project risk and viability, and ultimately the support that must be effectively obtained and retained.

Stakeholder Analysis Approach

• Clarify policy change objective

• Identify all stakeholders associated with this objective

• Prioritise stakeholders according to interest/commitment and power/ assets

• Develop strategy to engage with different stakeholders

Keep Satisfied

Engage Closely and Influence Actively

Monitor (minimum effort)

Keep Informed

High

Power

Low

Low HighInterest

Actors/Stakeholders

– Identify key governmental, NGO, international, regional, national and sub-national stakeholder groups

– Also identify independent groups/individuals with some influence or potential influence

– Break down categories as far as feasible (one possibility is primary stakeholders, e.g. ministerial advisors, and secondary stakeholders, the minister her/himself; trade union federation vs factor workers directly).

Interests, Position & Commitment

• Interests – what would a stakeholder gain or lose from the proposed reform?

• Interests determine position: supportive, neutral, opposed

• Commitment – importance attached by stakeholder to issue

Stakeholder interests

Stakeholder Interests Estimated project impacts

Estimated overall priority

Ministry of Environment

Natural resource management

Synergies between land and water policies

Minimum tension with CSOs

High Medium Medium

2nd priority

Assessing Stakeholder Power:

• Tangible– Votes– Finance– Infrastructure– Members– Research evidence

• Intangible– Expertise– Charisma– Legitimacy– Access to media &

decision makers– Tacit/implicit

knowledge

Political Assets:

Type of engagement

Inform Consult Partnership Control Initiation Planning Implementation Monitoring and evaluation

Strategies for Policy Engagement

Develop political strategies to change:

• Position: deals to bring about change, horse trading, promises, threats

• Power: provide supporters with funds, personnel, access to media & officials

• Players: change number of actors by mobilizing and demobilising, venue shifting

• Perceptions: use data and arguments to question, to alter perspectives of problem/solution, use associations, invoke symbols, emphasise doability

LEVEL OF INFLUENCE

POSITION

Opposed Neutral Supportive

High

Medium

Low

Policy Mapping Tool 1Stakeholder Position Map

Bangladesh Integration Example:

• Ministry of Finance• Planning Commission• Prime Minister• Minister of Health• Secretary of Min of Health • Deputy Secretary Ministry of Health• Health reformers in Ministry• Cadre of Family Planning Officials• Medical Association• Donors• Press• Academics• Select service delivery NGOs

LEVEL OF INFLUENCE

POSITION

Opposed Neutral Supportive

High DG FP Min of FinancePlanning CommissionPrime MinisterMinister of Health

Secretary of HealthBMASome DPs (WB, DFID, EC, USAID)

Medium Admin cadreFP cadreClass III/IV employeesPrint press

DGHHealth cadreReformers in MOHFW Secretariat

Low Additional Secretary

Health NGOsFP NGOsAcademia

Some DPs (WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, CIDA, SIDA, GTZ, Dutch Co-operation)

Bangladesh Integration: Pre-2001

LEVEL OF INFLUENCE

POSITION

Opposed Neutral Supportive

High Secretary DG FPFP cadreClass III/IV workersMinistry of FinancePrime MinisterPlanning CommissionMinister of Health

BMA

Medium FP NGOsAdmin cadre? Press?

DGH Some DPs (WB, DFID, EC, USAID)

Low UNFPA CIDASIDAGTZAcademiaHealth NGOs

Some DPs (WHO, UNICEF, Dutch Co-operation)

Positions Oct 2001-May 2003

Panel discussion

• Regional representatives to present on: “How can CSOs improve their engagement with relevant stakeholders?”

• Questions from audience

Day 2

Group work:Questions: a) Who are your stakeholders? b) How powerful are they? And what

accounts for their power? c) What are their interests? Are these

likely to differ across different stages in the policy cycle?

d) What type of engagement is recommendable at different junctures in the policy cycle?

Policy Mapping Tool 2

Effective Evidence-based policy influencing:

The RAPID Approach

Definitions• Research: “any systematic effort to

increase the stock of knowledge”

• Policy: a “purposive course of action followed by an actor or set of actors”

• Evidence: “the available information supporting or otherwise a belief or proposition”

• Evidence-based Policy: “public policy informed by rigorously established evidence”.

Non-linear, dynamic policy processes

• The impacts of research may occur neither at the time of the research, nor in ways that are predictable…or in the direction in which researchers intend. [Rather] it is mediated by the options available to policy makers at a particular time. [There is a] …need for researcher to be both radical and relate to its time and place….to make an impact but also to accord…with existing mores

»(Lucinda Platt, 2003: 2).

Existing theory1. Linear model2. Percolation model, Weiss3. Tipping point model, Gladwell4. ‘Context, evidence, links’

framework, ODI5. Policy narratives, Roe6. Systems model (NSI)7. External forces, Lindquist8. ‘Room for manoeuvre’, Clay &

Schaffer9. ‘Street level bureaucrats’, Lipsky10. Policy as social experiments,

Rondinelli11. Policy Streams & Windows,

Kingdon12. Disjointed incrementalism,

Lindquist13. The ‘tipping point’, Gladwell14. Crisis model, Kuhn15. ‘Framework of possible thought’,

Chomsky16. Variables for Credibility, Beach

17. The source is as important as content, Gladwell

18. Linear model of communication, Shannon

19. Interactive model, 20. Simple and surprising stories,

Communication Theory21. Provide solutions, Marketing I22. Find the right packaging, Marketing

II23. Elicit a response, Kottler24. Translation of technology, Volkow25. Epistemic communities26. Policy communities27. Advocacy coalitions etc, Pross28. Negotiation through networks,

Sebattier29. Shadow networks, Klickert30. Chains of accountability, Fine31. Communication for social change,

Rockefeller32. Wheels and webs, Chapman &

Fisher

X

An Analytical Framework

The political context – political and economic structures and processes, culture, institutional pressures, state-civil society relations, pol-econ history.

The evidence – credibility, the degree it challenges received wisdom, research methodology, message clarity, how it is packaged etc

External Influences Socio-economic and cultural influences, donor policies etc

The links between policyand research communities – networks, relationships/ trust, power, competing discourses

A Practical Framework

External Influences political context

evidencelinks

Politics and Policymaking

Media, Advocacy, Networking Research,

learning & thinking

Scientific information exchange & validation

Policy analysis, & research

Campaigning, Lobbying

Political context - key findings

• The design of political institutions or regimes matter in that they channel the flow of ideas in particular ways and create different sets of incentives

• New regional / transnational policy spaces present new opportunities and challenges

• Volatility of political contexts

• Time-bound windows of opportunity

Evidence – key findings

• Research quality matters

• Research quantity matters (body of work culminating in a tipping point)

• Triangulation of research methods is important – Quantitative– Qualitative– Experiential – Participatory

Linkages • Intent to shape policy matters

“The hard evidence of many cases supports the claim that intent matters. It matters precisely because the confusions, tensions and accidents of the policy process itself turn out to be so complicated and unpredictable…Research will only have a reliable influence on policy if it can survive…” (O’Neil, 2005: 762).

• Credibility of messenger may be as important as the message; this depends on social/institutional positioning and policy entrepreneurship skills

The Key QuestionsThe external environment:

• Who are the key actors?

• What is their agenda?

• How do they influence the political context?

Links:

• Who are the key actors?

• Are there existing networks?

• How best to transfer the information?

• The media?

• Campaigns?

The evidence:

• Is it there?

• Is it relevant?

• Is it practically useful?

• Are the concepts new?

• Does it need re-packaging?

The political context:

• Is there political interest in change?

• Is there room for manoeuvre?

• How do they perceive the problem?

Childhood Poverty in Ethiopia

Political context

•Govt weariness/suspicion of civil society

•Some media access

•PRSP consultation period

•Limited capacity of social policy ministries

External influences

•WB, donors encouraged research-based policy recommendations

•UN Convention on Rights of the Child

•Consultants to Ministry of Finance and Economy

Evidence

•National hh surveys

•Young Lives survey on childhood poverty

•Good practice from other countries, esp. indicators

•Qualitative research

Linkages

•National NGO umbrella orgs

•Save the Children Alliance

•Policy entrepreneurs

•Ethiopian Dev’t Research Institute

•PRSP technical committee

•Dept of Children and Youth

•Regional state govt officials

What you need to do – group work What you need to know

Broad action steps Possible strategies

Political Context:

Evidence

Links

• Who are the policymakers?• Is there demand for ideas?• What is the policy process?

• What is the current theory?• What are the narratives?• How divergent is it?

• Who are the stakeholders?• What networks exist?• Who are the connectors,

mavens and salesmen?

• Get to know the policymakers.• Identify friends and foes.• Prepare for policy

opportunities. • Look out for policy windows.

• Work with them – seek commissions

• Strategic opportunism – prepare for known events + resources for others

• Establish credibility• Provide practical solutions• Establish legitimacy.• Present clear options• Use familiar narratives.

• Build a reputation• Action-research• Pilot projects to generate

legitimacy• Good communication

• Get to know the others• Work through existing

networks.• Build coalitions.• Build new policy networks.

• Build partnerships.• Identify key networkers,

mavens and salesmen.• Use informal contacts

Feedback and Discussion

What is the present policy agenda? Are there clear and strong links between researcher and policy-making/policy implementing communities? How open are policy spaces on water policy? Do you have access to or are you generating policy relevant evidence?What are the external forces and how influential are they?

A peer assist is a method whereby participants are invited to reflect on the ideas of their peers based on their experiences, insights and knowledge early on in a project

Peer Assist

• targets a specific technical or commercial challenge;

• gains assistance and insights from people outside the team;

• identifies possible approaches and new lines of inquiry;

• promotes sharing of learning with each other; and• develops strong networks amongst people involved

Advocacy RulesAdvocacy Rules

(Or how to influence (Or how to influence people to make changes ....)people to make changes ....)

What are the changes you are trying to bring about?

• Use the problem tree or some other tool to identify problems, impact of the problem and root causes

• Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-Bound (SMART) objectives

Who are you advocating/communicating to? Who are you advocating/communicating to?

Who needs to make these changes?

Who has the power?

What is their stance on the issue?

Awareness, Knowledge, Attitude, Behaviour

Targets and influence

Mapping where decisions happen

Analyse the outcome and then decide.

Who are you working together with? Who are you working together with?

1. Who do you need to work with?

2. Identify your ‘niche’ (SWOT)

3. Stakeholder Mapping

4. Structures for collaborative working

5. Skills needed in teams

6. Benefits and pitfalls of collaborations

Why do you want to make the changes?Why do you want to make the changes?

Why should things change (or what is the evidence to support your case?)

How to make sure that the evidence is credible and ‘legitimate’?

The evidence : accurate, credible, well researched, authoritative…

What the target audience wants to hear....

Advocacy StatementAdvocacy Statement

A concise and persuasive statement that captures What you want to achieve, Why, How and by when?

Should ‘communicate’ with your target audience and prompt action

Think about language, content, packaging, and timing

Persuasive

How will you communicate your messages and evidence?

How to target and access information?

Who is a trusted and credible messenger?

What is the most appropriate medium?

How will you package your information?

Role of the media

Where and when to

advocate/communicate?

Creating opportunities (campaigns, public mobilisation, formal and informal lobbying etc.)

Influencing existing agendas

Piggybacking on other agendas

• Tea

• Day 3

Why communicate?• To disseminate our research results

• To provide information

• To aid our research process

• To engage with specific groups

• To facilitate (public) discussion

• To lead to change

But…

more communication

≠ more change

Key communication skills More communication ≠ more change• But better communication can lead to

change.

Key skills: • to understand, • to inspire, • to inform, and • to learn.

Communications Toolkit• Planning Tools• Packaging Tools• Targeting Tools• Monitoring Tools

Communications Toolkit• Planning Tools

– Stakeholder Analysis – Social Network Analysis – Problem Tree Analysis – Force Field Analysis – National Systems of

Innovation (NSI) – How to Write a

Communications Strategy • Packaging Tools• Targeting Tools• Monitoring Tools

Key skill:to understand

The overall framework

• Identify the problem• Understand the context• Identify the audience(s)• Develop a SMART Strategy • Identify the message(s) • Resources – staff, time, partners & $$• Promotion – tools & activities• Monitor, learn, adapt

How?

Who?

What?

Audience• Who needs to make these changes?

• Who has the power?

• What is their stance on the issue?

• Who influences them?

• Identify targets and influence

(use stakeholder & context mapping tools)

Message• Why should things change (or what is the

evidence to support your case?)

• How to make sure that the evidence is credible and ‘legitimate’?

• What the target audience can hear.... frameworks of thought

• Language, content, packaging, and timing

Messenger (Promotion)• How to access information and target?

• Who is a trusted and credible messenger?

• What is the most appropriate medium? (campaigns, public mobilisation, formal and informal lobbying)

• How will you package your information?

• Role of the media?

Persuasion• Separate people from problem

• Focus on interests, not positions

• Invent options for mutual gain

• Insist on using objective criteria.

• Manage human emotion separately from the practical problem

• Highlight the human need to feel heard, understood, respected and valued.

Lobbying• Be an authority on the subject• Include all group in the work• Be positive in your approach• Be aware of the agenda and language

on the government in power• Identify and target politicians• Time your input• Use the Media to lobby

Targeting: Writing Effective Policy Papers Providing a solution to a policy problem

• Structural elements of a paper– Problem description– Policy options– Conclusion

• Key issues: Problem oriented, targeted, multidisciplinary, applied, clear, jargon-free.

[Source: Young and Quinn, 2002]

A peer assist is a method whereby participants are invited to reflect on the ideas of their peers based on their experiences, insights and knowledge early on in a project

Peer Assist

• targets a specific technical or commercial challenge;

• gains assistance and insights from people outside the team;

• identifies possible approaches and new lines of inquiry;

• promotes sharing of learning with each other; and• develops strong networks amongst people involved

Starts with the attitude that someone has probably already done what I am about to do.

I wonder who?”

Peer Assist

Peer Assist

What you know in your context

What I know in my context

"...the politics accompanying

hierarchies hampers the free

exchange of knowledge. People

are much more open with their peers. They are

much more willing to share and to

listen”

What weboth know

What’spossible

?

ActionMultiplying Knowledge

What is KM & Learning?

“… keeping track of people who ‘know the recipe’….

“…every time we do something again we should do it better than the last time…”

Goals ResultsActivities

Learnduring

Learnafter

Learnbefore

External networks; Colleagues; Information assets; Own knowledge

Different learning styles…

Reflector

Theorist

Activist

Pragmatist

Different forms of knowledge

StartHas it been articulated?

Can it been articulated?

Explicit Tacit

Implicit

Y N

Y

N

KM Toolkit• Strategy Development• Management Techniques• Collaboration Mechanisms• Knowledge Sharing and

Learning Processes• Knowledge Capture and

Storage

Knowledge Audit for NBD• What are the core tasks?• What do the people doing them need

to know?• How is the knowledge generated?• How is it stored and accessed?• Any problems?• What are the relationships between

producers and users?• How could it be improved?• Any leadership issues?• Any incentive problems?

What are the problems we face while monitoring for policy impact?• The problem with attribution

– Multiple actors and factors contribute – Unintended results are often ignored– Influence shifts overtime (indirect

relation)– Impact of our interventions occurs further

down the development chain

The problem with attribution

CEF

National Gov

Family

Local Gov

GRO

USAID

Church

CSO

DFID

Why do we face these problems?• Because the responsibility for

achieving results ultimately depends on the actions of our partners as influenced by the contexts in which they work

• Focusing on downstream impact increases programming bureaucratisation and is inconsistent with our understanding of develpment as a complex process.

Monitoring ex-ante• … ex-post is sometimes too late

• A short introduction to OUTCOME MAPPING

What is OM?• OM is a dynamic methodology useful in the

development of planning, monitoring and evaluation mechanism. OM:– Provides the tools to think holistically and

strategically about how it intends to achieve results

– Focuses on Outcomes instead of impacts– It deals with Contribution instead of attribution– Forces us to limit our planning and evaluation to

our sphere of influence– Deals with changes in the behaviours of our

direct partners

Outcome Mapping

OUTCOME MAPPING:Building Learning and Reflection into Development ProgramsSarah Earl, Fred Carden, and Terry Smutylo

http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-9330-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html

The 3 Stages of OM

• The intentional design stage: helps answer 4 questions: 1) Why? (developing a vision statement); 2) Who? (identifying the primary partners); 3) What? (specifying desired outcomes and relevant progress markers); and, 4) How? (articulating the mission and a portfolio of strategies).

• The outcome and performance monitoring stage: provides a framework for a continuous monitoring of the initiative as a tool to achieving its outcomes. The program uses progress markers, a set of graduated indicators of behavioural change, identified in the intentional design stage to clarify directions with its primary partners and to monitor outcomes.

• The evaluation planning stage: helps identify the evaluation priorities assessing the strategy at greater depth than the performance monitoring stage.

Intentional design

• Boundary Partners– Individuals, groups and organisations with

whom the programme interacts directly to effect changes.

– Those that you are trying to encourage to change so that they can contribute to the vision? With whom will you work directly?

– We must try to group similar partners according to the type of behavioural changes sought. Boundary partners are different from strategic partners.

Boundary partners

= Program`s Partners

Program

Intentional design• Outcome Challenges

– The changed behaviours (relationships, activities and/or actions) of the boundary partner and how they would be behaving if they were contributing ideally to the vision.

– Imagine that in 3-5 years PartCom has been extremely successful. What would our boundary partners be doing to contribute maximally to the vision?

– Outcome challenges are about the boundary partner, not the programme.

Intentional design• Progress markers

– Step by step progressive changes that one expects to see (short run), would like to see (medium to long run) and love to see (very long run) –keep it simple, 15 max!

– Are about CHANGES IN BEHAVIOURS OF BOUNDARY PARTNERS

– Are linear but NOT static– Must be revised– Help monitor the effectiveness of the strategy

Intentional design• Strategy Map

– Outlines the programmes approach in working with the boundary partners

– How will the programme contribute to the achievement of the outcome challenged over the next X months/years?

– Use force field analysis

The three stages of OM

Discussion

• How will Nile Basin countries monitor its policy engagement work and impacts?

Summary– Evidence-informed policy challenging– Policy about interests, institutions & ideas– Variety of tools to understand these factors -

range in sophistication/complexity and ease of use

– Tools to use the understanding to engage in policy processes – less well developed

– Extent to which the tools are helpful depends on creativity, tenacity, inside knowledge – advocacy coalitions useful

– You can get more info at …

Further InformationMapping Political Contexts:http://www.odi.org.uk/RAPID/Publications/Tools_Political_Context.html

Tools for Policy Impact:http://www.odi.org.uk/RAPID/Publications/Tools_Policy_Impact.html

Best Practice in Policy Making:http://www.policyhub.gov.uk/policy_tools/

Understanding Policy Process:

Further Information / Resources• ODI Working Papers • Bridging Research

and Policy Book• JID Special Issue• Meeting Reports• Tools for Impact • www.odi.org.uk/cspp• www.odi.org.uk/rapid

Closing comments1. Was this useful?

2. What will you do different from now on?

3. How can we help you?

Action Planning

Contact Details:

Naved Chowdhury n.chowdhury@odi.org.uk

Nicola Jones n.jones@odi.org.uk

RAPID Programme, ODI www.odi.org.uk/rapid