Policy Brief Outline

Policy Brief Outline

Nonmarket Policy Brief:

This will be the "policy brief" version of the nonmarket proposal. This brief should be written last, drawing from everything you've already researched and written. A policy brief is intended to present an actionable plan based on a set of conditions (contexts, reasons, motivations, detriments, etc.) The audience for this policy could range quite broadly; however, the more global your project, the harder it is to cover all of your bases and the policy would likely suffer from being overly vague and too general. It is strongly recommended that you stay focused on achievable targets for your nonmarket strategies.

The template below is in the Lesson 12 folder for this course, though further explanation and guidance is provided here.

1. Title of proposed policy.
   The title of your proposed policy ought to clearly communicate the topic and context of your project.
2. Executive summary. The executive summary lays out all of the main issues and proposed solutions the policy will address, but remains relatively brief. Further specifics and details are provided later in the document. The executive summary is very much like an abstract to a paper. If it is not written well, readers may not go any further than this if they do not consider it worth their while.
   1. Description of problem addressed. Here, you want to clearly define the reason for why this policy needs consideration for implementation. Reasons such as "because of global climate change" are simply too broad to address with a single campaign. You want to describe the problem in a way that makes your proposal achievable.
   2. Statement on why the current approach or policy needs to be changed. Whether due to an entire lack of an existing policy or the existing policy needs revisions and to be brought up to current standards, tell us why things need to be changed and what about the current situation is not working.
   3. Recommendations for action. Here is where you introduce your plans for action towards achieving your specific targets.
3. Context and importance of the problem. Here is where you are able to detail out the situation you are proposing to change.
   1. Clear statement of the problem or issue the policy is intended to address. Same as in the executive summary, here you want to add further details and information for your audience to help them to understand why there is a need and even urgency to follow your plan.
   2. Overview of root causes of the problem. What are the reasons for the existing problem? These reasons should be more structural and context driven and not so much a critique of existing policies (that's in the next section.)
   3. Clear statement of policy implications. Here you need to say why a policy change will make a difference and what will be different once a policy is implemented.
4. Critique of existing policy option(s). Here you will give reasons why the current policies, or lack thereof, are driving or allowing the existing policies to persist.
   1. Brief overview of current policy options with this focus. Existing policies concerning your topic need to be evaluated for strengths and weakness.
   2. An argument showing why and how the current proposed approach is failing to address the issue. Why does the current approach not work? Does it not go far enough or too far in trying to regulate an issue? Are the incentives poorly matched with the desired outcomes? etc.
5. Policy recommendations. Now that you have provided all of your reasons for why existing conditions you've identified need to change, you need to describe the plan for changing them.
   1. The specific steps and/or practical measures that need to be taken. Drawing from your other worksheets, here is where you lay out the planned policy, step-by-step. This needs to include the steps and timing of the policy, as well as how the policy can be evaluated in an ongoing manner. In other words, you need to describe the actions you propose as well as how you are going to assess whether those actions are successfully working towards achieving your intended target(s).
   2. Summarize, again, why the policy shift is important. Remind your readers why they want to support your proposal, and why it's better than other existing policies and/or conditions.
6. Appendices. Here you will add specific information, charts, summaries of other reports, etc., that are the most important pieces of external information you want to communicate.
   1. Additional technical details or other materials that would otherwise detract from the reader's attention. You can provide results from studies, technical reports, survey results, etc. You want them to be able to see the most important information to make your argument as convincing as possible; however, you don't want it cluttering up your "brief."
   2. Use the appendices sparingly, as it detracts from the brevity of the "brief." Again, while you don't want to include excessive amounts of information in the brief itself, you also don't want to add too much additional information so that the "brief" becomes an entire report. For your final project for this course, you will provide all of the worksheets completed in support of the writing of this brief as a sort of appendices.
7. Bibliography and sources consulted.
   1. It is always good practice to include your sources, particularly for data used to support arguments. There is no way to do this project without consulting numerous sources, especially including those sources we've covered in the course.
   2. Citing other regulations and/or policies is a necessity, particularly if this is for legislation as opposed to internal operating policies of a company, for example. You cannot work in the void... your work absolutely needs to be tied to existing conditions, which will almost certainly include existing policies. Do not expect to be convincing if you do not communicate that you have a robust understanding of the existing policies in your arena.