Writing Policy Briefs

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Writing Policy Briefs
Training Program for FPMU-NFPCSP Denis
Drechsler Economic and Social Development
DepartmentFood and Agriculture Organization of
the United NationsDhaka, November 2013
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Outline

• Definition of course objectives
• Form, format and function of policy briefs
• FPMU-NFPCSP topics, objectives and target
  audience
• Content selection, structuring and key message/s
• Drafting FPMU-NFPCSP policy briefs
• Wrap up and next steps

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Course objectives

• Review materials from 2010 course
• Strengthen your knowledge on policy briefs
• Discuss the drafting process
• Selection of topic, messages and recommendations
• Structuring content
• Defining the storyline of your brief
• Assist you in your policy brief projects

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Pre-training test

• Based on your existing knowledge, structure a
  policy brief on following topic (use sub-heading
  if needed)
• Upcoming challenges of food security in
  Bangladesh
• Clearly highlight following elements
• Main message to be communicated
• Relevance for policy makers/recommendations
• Existing evidence
• Write an introduction that outlines the topic and
  makes the reader interested to continue reading

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Form, format and functionof policy briefs
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What is a policy brief?

• A short document that presents the findings and
  recommendations of a research project to a
  non-specialized audience
• A medium for exploring an issue and distilling
  lessons learned
• A vehicle for providing policy advice

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Characteristics of a policy brief

• A standalone document
• Clear and focused
• Easy to read
• Evidence based
• Policy relevant
• Brief (i.e. short and to the point)

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(Why) do we need policy briefs?

• Bridging the research-policy gap
• No research culture among policy makers
• Policy formulation a political process
• Research not immediately policy relevant
• Insufficient exchange between researchers and
  policy makers
• Policy briefs a means to bridging this gap

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Increased demand for policy briefs

• Complex policy problems (e.g. Globalization)
• Excess of information
• New actors in policy making
• International Organizations
• NGOs
• Civil Society
• etc.
• Pressure on research to be policy relevant

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Should researchers engage in this process?

• Value of research increases when it can be
  applied
• Relevant findings should be communicated
• Leaving interpretation of results open might
  lead to false conclusions
• Failing to recognize the policy relevance of a
  topic might also weaken the underlying research

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Do policy briefs work?
Policy briefs produced so far have proven very
effective in communicating policy issues, to the
extent that 3 interventions from high-level
speakers at the Policy Roundtable directly drew
from policy briefs supported by the
NFPCSP. Mid-Term Review of the National Food
Policy Capacity Strengthening Programme (NFPCSP)
Phase II. European Commission
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FPMU-NFPCSP topics, objectives and target
audience
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Objectives of a policy brief

• Mainly two
• Advocate (a specific policy)
• Inform (about different options)
• Other objectives
• Raise awareness for a topic
• Increase your work's visibility
• Counter existing positions
• Avoid misinterpretation of research findings
• etc.

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Know your readers

• Who am I writing this brief for?
• What do my readers know about the topic?
• How open are they to the messages I am proposing?

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Exercise!

• In groups of four, identify the target audience/s
  of FPMU/NFPCSP
• In a few words, describe their overall knowledge
  on food security/policy
• Their relevant technical background
• Their openness to policy innovation
• Their reliance on other means of information

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How can I reach my readers?

• Adapt brief to expectations
• Consider questions that need answers
• Respect your readers' interests and concerns
• Fit messages into their mindsets
• Other?

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Use the power of persuasion

• Explain your readers whats in it for them?
• Describe the urgency of a situation
• Highlight the costs of not acting
• Speak in terms of benefits and advantages
• Guide them through your argumentation
• Promote concrete solutions

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Content selection, structuring and key message/s
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How to define a suitable topic?

• Focus on a single topic
• Make sure it is policy relevant
• Review existing information
• Distil main findings and recommendations
• Check if recommendations are
• supported by convincing evidence
• suitable given current policy debate

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Choose your preferred research paper

• Improving market performance in Bangladesh
  Challenges to bring food from farm to table at
  affordable prices (Sabur, Mahaboub, Ismail)
• Policy options for supporting agricultural
  diversification in Bangladesh (Shahe, Hajiqul,
  Mezan)
• Rural-urban migration and its food security
  implications for Bangladesh (Quraishia, Ruhul,
  Ciro)
• Financial and economic profitability of major
  food crops in Bangladesh (Talukder, Mahinur,
  Nasser, Antonio)
• Trends in availability of agricultural land in
  Bangladesh (Shahin, Nur, Hashem)
• Consumption of unsafe foods Evidence from heavy
  metal and trace element contamination (Mannan,
  Lalita, Banna)

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Exercise "Topic selection"

• In your respective group, identify a topic for a
  possible FPMU-NFPCSP policy brief
• Then explain
• Why is the topic relevant in the current policy
  debate?
• What are the main findings to be communicated?
• How strong is the supporting evidence?
• How does your message/recommendation fit within
  the overall policy landscape?

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Exercise "Messages and storyline"

• Select one of the last few issues of the series
• Review it carefully and identify
• The main message
• The evidence presented (2-3 main facts)
• The policy implications suggested
• How would you summarize the storyline in one
  sentence?
• Did you find the brief Consistent?
  Comprehensive? Convincing?

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Structure your content

• Identify main facts you want to communicate
• Bring these into a logical structure
• Funnel your arguments to identify key message
  (bottom line)
• Techniques
• Clustering
• Free-writing
• Outlining

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More specifically...

• Draft main structure of brief
• Group arguments into analytical blocks
• Bring these blocks into a logical order
• Draw connections between the blocks
• Revise and improve, checking for
• Consistency
• Repetitions
• Unnecessary baggage etc.

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Elements of a good structure

• Unity only one main idea per paragraph stripped
  of unnecessary information
• Coherence arguments follow a logical structure
  no sudden shifts or gaps
• Emphasis key ideas are clearly highlighted
• Order arguments flow naturally easy to read
• Accuracy and consistency information presented
  needs to be accurate and conclusive.

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Drafting FPMU-NFPCSP policy briefs (using the
template and toolkit)
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FPMU-NFPCSP policy brief template

• Key bullets
• Executive summary (bold text)
• Introduction
• Body Evidence, analysis and results
• Conclusion
• Implications and recommendations

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Key bullets

• Distil the essence of the brief
• Provide an overview for busy readers
• Entice readers to go further
• Appear on cover or top of first page
• Are written last

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Example Key bullets
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Executive summary (bold text)

• State the problem to be addressed
• Highlight significance/urgency of the issue
• Describe objective of the brief
• Give overview of main findings and conclusions
• Create curiosity

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Example Executive summary
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Introduction

• Outline the issue and context
• Present stylized facts, including background
  information
• If applicable, describe research and analysis
• Avoid technical jargon

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Example Introduction
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Evidence, analysis and results

• Present key facts and findings, including data
• But avoid overuse of statistics (numbers can be
  numbing)
• Round off numbers or compare them to familiar
  things such as the size of a cricket field
• Move from general to specific
• Logically link findings to lead over to the
  conclusions

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Approaches (if applicable)

• Explain how study was conducted
• Illustrate who conducted the study
• Identify methods used to collect/analyze data

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Example Evidence
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Example Results (as a chart)
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Conclusions

• Interpret data
• Outline concrete actions
• Express ideas using strong assertions
• Ensure ideas are balanced and defensible

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Example Conclusion
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Implications vs. recommendations

• Implications are what could happen
• Recommendations are what should happen
• Both flow from conclusions
• Both must be supported by evidence

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Implications if then

• Describe likely consequences
• Less direct than recommendations
• Useful when advice is not requested
• Softer approach but still persuasive

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Recommendations

• Describe clearly what should happen next
• Presented as precise steps
• Need to be relevant, credible and feasible

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Example Recommendations
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Policy Brief Design
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Titles Capture attention

• Titles are a reference point
• Sub-titles break up text
• Both should entice readers
• Similar to headline writing
• Verbs make them more dynamic
• Questions can pique curiosity

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Sidebars / Boxes

• Provide additional insights
• Are extra to main discussion
• Might increase readability
• Sidebars / boxes should be
• Short
• Relevant
• To the point

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Other design options

• Callouts
• Sentences or sentence fragments
• Printed in larger font
• Boxed or placed in margins

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Other design options

• Bulleted Lists
• Favor groups of around 5 (fewer items should go
  into the text longer lists become too extensive)
• Express complete thoughts
• Avoid mere tags (one or two word bullets)

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Other design options

• Charts, Photos, Graphics
• Graphs often better than tables
• Prefer simple solutions, such as pie or bar
  charts
• Graphics and photos can simplify understanding
• Ensure that their message is clear and
  unambiguous
• Use captions to explain content

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Check your work
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Review your brief

• Conduct a 20-second test What stood out?
• Try to make the brief more user friendly
• Go on a jargon hunt
• Reduce the use of statistics, if necessary
• Check logical soundness of your brief
• Are your arguments clear?
• Do you provide sufficient proof?
• Is your interpretation persuasive?

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Exercise Linking arguments

• Please review FPMU Policy Brief 9 and answer
  following questions
• What is the main message of each paragraph?
• How does each paragraph link to the next?
• In your opinion, what is the main storyline of
  the brief?

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Exercise Drafting

1. In collaboration with your team members, decide
   on the final topic for your policy brief project
2. Define your target audience as well as the
   briefs main contribution to the current policy
   debate in Bangladesh (use Annex 2 of your
   Toolkit)
3. List the main pieces of information to be
   communicated and bring them into a logical order
   (Annex 3 of your Toolkit)
4. "Funnel" the arguments to identify the main
   message you want to convey What is the bottom
   line of your brief? (slides 23 and 24)
5. Sketch the "storyline" of your policy brief How
   do your main arguments link with one another?

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Final topics

• Improving the market performance of fruits and
  vegetables (Sabur, Mahaboub, Ismail)
• Attaining food security through agricultural
  diversification (Shahe, Hajiqul, Mezan)
• Leveraging migration for food security and rural
  development (Quraishia, Ruhul, Ciro)
• Sustainable Food Production based on
  Profitability and Ecological Suitability
  (Talukder, Mahinur, Nasser, Antonio)
• Agricultural land availability is declining but
  not as fast as claimed (Shahin, Nur, Hashem)
• Unsafe foods-A potential risk for Food
  Nutrition Security (Mannan, Lalita, Banna)

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Wrap up and next steps
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Final test

• Building on what you learned in class, structure
  a policy brief on following topic (use
  sub-heading if needed)
• Upcoming challenges of food security in
  Bangladesh
• Clearly highlight following elements
• Main message to be communicated
• Relevance for policy makers/recommendations
• Existing evidence
• Write an introduction that outlines the topic and
  makes the reader interested to continue reading

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Selected topics

• Quraishia Loss of agricultural land
• Mezanur Sustainable food security in Bangladesh
• Shahin New social protection strategy
• Shahe Input availability in food production
• Nur Investment for maximum utilization of time
  and space
• Hashem Climate change and its impacts
• Mahbubur Automatic rice milling
• Lalita Improving nutrition in line with 1000
  days of life
• Mannan Reducing heavy metal contamination
• Banna Agricultural land and food security
• Hajiqul Increase water availability
• Rezaul Financial and economic profitability of
  crop production
• Ismail Weather impact on rice production
• Feroz Population growth and food security
• Ruhul Reduce wastage of food in the whole chain
• Sabur Bringing food to consumers at affordable
  prices
• Antonio Mitigating risks of higher food prices
  in times of political uncertainty
• Mahinur Overview of upcoming challenges to food
  security
• Ciro Shifting the focus to quality doing
  better to achieve more

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Test results
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Post-training assignment

1. In collaboration with your team members, decide
   on the final topic for your policy brief project
2. Define your target audience as well as the
   briefs main contribution to the current policy
   debate in Bangladesh (use Annex 2 of your
   Toolkit)
3. List the main pieces of information you want to
   communicate and bring them into a logical order
   (Annex 3 of your Toolkit)
4. "Funnel" the arguments to identify the main
   message you want to convey What is the bottom
   line of your brief? (slides 23 and 24)
5. Sketch the "storyline" of your policy brief How
   do your main arguments link with one another?