Lecture 18 &19: Understanding the environment and key actors in policy space: problem

identification- policy adoption, implementation and evaluation, stakeholder mapping,

identifying opportunities and barriers, mobilizing financial resources

 Understanding RAS policy environment-

Introduction: A policy is a plan that outlines the steps that need to be taken to achieve a
specific goal. It consists of a set of regulations that have been accepted and adopted by the
government as necessities to be complied with. A policy is designed to impact and influence
the decisions that are made and the procedures that are adopted by the government. Policies
are seen as the standard of how to perform the task set in front of a government. It is
important to understand the policy development process so that, as an advocate, you can plan
the type of input you need to have an impact on the final policy.
Understanding the situation: RAS wants to show support to the people in helping them deal
with any problems that they are facing. It wants to help improve the livelihood of the people
living in rural areas worldwide. The issues that the people in rural areas face are poverty and
food associated issues, such as nutrition challenges.
RAS plays a vital role in providing feedback to the farmers, agri-businesses and non-
governmental organisations (NGOs). A gap that can be recognised is that the advisory
services need more information. They are not able to help if they do not know about the
situations. There is a need for information and evidence so that RAS is able to act on the
information and engage with its clients as quickly as possible.
In 2009, the stakeholders of the African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (AFAAS)
came together to discuss the need for a global voice that could bring RAS to a global level.
They wanted to help more people than simply those in their immediate surroundings. GFRAS
is in constant and on-going discussions with all the agricultural development parties. It wants
to see how the brokering role can be expanded in order to empower the farmers to ensure that
they have a better livelihood. In 2013, GFRAS showed that the forum has played a vital role
in RAS, affecting the agenda of international development institutions which are considered
to be one of the largest donors to RAS.
GFRAS has noted that, even though the advocacy functions are working effectively, there is
still a great need for the advisory capacity services to be improved on.
Identify policy issues: In the policy process, there is a negotiation that takes place between
the role players by selecting one policy option from the available options. To make sure that
the right policy is chosen, research data needs to be translated properly into information that
will present the most appropriate solution. If the data and research do not get recorded
properly or the data shows the wrong results, the policy idea will not be utilised. This will
delay the implementation of the solution. The policy needs to include words that will
persuade the leaders, advocates and the public of the influence that your data and research
has.
Key actors and institutions in advocacy: Having key organisations or individuals of a
community as allies can help you to achieve your advocacy objective. By leaving a key
organisation or individual out of the decision-making process, you may have to revisit the
decision or you could risk losing the ally.
The relationships that advocate develop play a larger role in effective and efficient advocacy.
These relationships are between you and the decision makers, influential individuals and key
audiences. The advocate will be labelled as credible if these ties are strengthened through
trust and mutual support. The key institutions and actors are those that have the most
influence and they will be your target audience.
Analyse the policy environment: The policy environment includes basic knowledge of the
way that state institution’s function. If you know how they function you will know how to
mould your presentation of the new policy changes. This is important to know when you
want to influence public policies. It is important to know national and international legislation
that is applicable to the areas that are related to the group’s policy.
In order to analyse the problem properly, you need the correct and current information about
the problem. Once you have the proper information, you are then able to find solutions. These
solutions then need to be presented in a way that is applicable to the environment that you
want to affect. You need to identify the correct actors and influential individuals that will
have the support of the group of people that need the changes to their policies.

 Policymaking process:

Introduction: Understanding the policymaking process can help individuals and

organisations to decide whether they will become involved in developing or changing a
policy and how to do it. Unfortunately, the policymaking process tends to be very
complex, however, understanding the process can empower individuals and organisations
to impact policies.
Problem identification: This is the first and most important step in the policymaking
process. This stage can also be called the “agenda setting stage”. There are going to be
problems in each situation and they all need your attention. It is best to prioritise any
problems you may encounter according to urgency. Advocates will choose which
problem to address. They will then try to get the target audience to recognise the problem
and that it needs immediate action.
Some techniques for identifying which problem to address first, include:
 Making spontaneous choices
 Generating ideas
 Researching and studying the issues.
Evidence can help you to decide which problems should be added to the agenda. If they
provide options to the identified problems, the input of civil society organisations (CSOs)
can be very influential. The better the evidence, the easier it is to influence public
opinion.

Policy formulation: The second stage is solution formulation. After the problems have
been identified and added to the agenda, the advocates should decide on the best solutions
to a problem. It needs to be economically, politically and socially achievable. You do not
have to agree on the solutions at this stage, but it is essential that there are solutions
brought forward that will help solve the problem.
The evidence that is collected can be essential at this stage for the CSOs as it will
establish their credibility. The evidence is used to establish or improve a positive
reputation for the CSOs. The theory of change needs to be a key issue on how the
proposed solution will measure on the pro-poor impact.

Policy adoption: The third stage of the policymaking process is policy adoption. During
this stage there needs to be a political will to act on the problem and its solutions. This is
the central point of advocacy. During this stage you must meet with allies and decision
makers in order to build awareness of the problems that can be addressed through
adopting the policy.
You need to identify and approach the target institutions and decision makers, and
prepare an influential and persuasive communication plan. The advocacy objective needs
to be specific and measurable. This is so that you know if you have achieved the objective
in the specific amount of time that you planned for.

Policy implementation: Part of the third stage of the policymaking process is the
implementation stage. All of this may overlap and usually provides a small window of
opportunity that the advocate needs to seize. Understanding the decision-making process
and having a well-defined advocacy strategy will help you to take full advantage of the
opportunity.
Once the proposed solution is accepted, it moves to the higher level of decision-making,
such as a committee or council. If it is rejected, it returns to the previous stage so that any
necessary changes can be made.
Evidence will help CSOs translate any expert knowledge, practical experience or
technical skills. CSOs have often been successful in the service delivery innovators line
that informs broader governmental policy implementation.

Evaluation: This is the fourth and final stage of policymaking and is often not reached.
Good advocates will always assess the effectiveness of any of their past efforts. In this
stage, the advocate and the institutions will adopt the suggested changes to the policies.
These changes are periodically evaluated by an objective third party. This third party
must have access to the work of the organisation so that they can examine the alliances
that are involved. Monitoring and evaluation help to identify whether or not the changes
to the policies have actually made improvements to the lives of the people that they were
hoping to improve. After policy evaluation the lessons learned are used to identify new
ideas for refining the policy, particularly for problem identification.

Figure 1 shows how and where evidence and evaluation data can influence the process of
policy development. It also shows how policy recommendations can have an impact on
the learning, adoption, productivity, sustainability, and welfare of the affected
stakeholders.
 Shareholder Mapping-

Stakeholder influence mapping helps reveal what brings about changes in decisions and
prevailing wisdom over time, and how they might be shaped in future. The process of
visually mapping these changes provokes and encourages participants’ experiences and
ideas on further tools, approaches and tactics that can influence others.

Identify policy stakeholders: Policy stakeholders are those people that have the
decision-making power. Once the goals have been selected, the advocate must ensure that
they are in direct contact with those that have the decision-making influence. To ensure
that you have approached the correct people you need to understand the knowledge,
attitudes and the principles of your target audience.
It may be a good idea, based on your research, to group and subgroup all of the potential
stakeholders from the ones that have the most influence, to the ones that have the least
influence. This will help you to recognise who is best to approach.

Map stakeholder influence and relationships:Being an advocate, you need to become

familiar with the decision-making process. By doing this, you will be able to understand
the process that you are trying to influence. The more you know about the system, the
more power you will have to influence the people that have the power to change the
policies. You need to list all of the influential decision makers and then rank the decision
makers by importance. This is vital for your planning process. As an advocate, your
ongoing task is to identify any important decision makers. The formal process of making
yourself familiar with the decision-making process and the most influential decision
makers has many benefits. One of the benefits includes knowing that the change is
official and permanent.
Define policy focus key time periods in the policy cycle: When you have meetings with
the decision makers, it is best to keep it short and to the point. If the meetings are too long,
people will be reluctant to attend. With new appointments, job shuffles or bringing in new
partners, it is best to have all the needed decision makers at the meeting. If the meeting is
long, they will not attend. If they do not attend then there, they will be no formal and well-
thought-out decisions made. If the necessary decision makers are not at the meeting, then the
decision will be delayed or the wrong decision will be made. You need to ensure that the
wrong decision does not become the new policy.

Identify key moments and mechanisms: The key moments and mechanisms are the five
stages in the decision-making process.
 Stage one is where you generate any ideas or proposals that are within the
decision-making body. These issues need to be put onto the agenda and the
institution develops a proposal. The proposals all come from ideas generated from
outside parties.
 Stage two is when you introduce the proposed solutions to the decision-making
process. In this stage, you formally bring your proposal to the influencers that you
need to persuade.
 Stage three is where the proposal that you have brought is debated, changed and
discussed. Each of the aspects that you have highlighted as solutions to the
problem are discussed and debated to ensure that all angles of the problem are
addressed through your solution.
 Stage four is critical. In this stage, your proposal is both accepted and approved or
it is rejected. There is a vote that takes place. In this stage, the decision makers
reach a consensus or one of the decision makers makes the decision.
 Stage five is the last stage. This is when your proposal is implemented (if
accepted). If your proposal is not accepted, then you need to return to the previous
stage and start again. If it is rejected then there is a chance that there are a few
things that will need to be changed before it can be accepted.

 Identifying opportunities and barriers:

The complexity of RAS/EAS policy responses presents social, financial, cultural, and
institutional barriers to policy making at multiple stages in the policy making process.
These barriers reduce the effectiveness of RAS policy in achieving national goals.
Identifying barriers to effective implementations of RAS policies provides opportunities
to improve agriculture productivity and other outcomes.
 Technical and financial capacity constraints: Technical and financial capacity
constraints are not easily overcome. CSOs need to have an understanding of policy
context and access to the premises and people so that they can gather as much evidence as
they need and ensure that the message is presented in a way that is acceptable to the target
audience. This involves financial investments and a large variety of technical capacities.
There are constraints to both of these aspects and they limit the ability to use evidence
effectively and engage with the policy processes.

Policy entrepreneurship:

The four styles of policy entrepreneurship will give you an indication of the way that
CSOs engage in the policy process:
 Storytellers are able to create a narrative about a policy. Narratives are short and
simple stories and they can be used to inform policy. By telling a story about a
policy, policymakers are able to understand the more complex reality of the policy
and its challenges.
 Networkers make connections with people of influence. Good networkers will
have more policy influence than bad networkers because of the connections that
they have to others. Good networkers are trusted and well-connected.
 Engineers will give a theoretical scenario and then will show the policymakers the
scenario in practice. If it is shown in practice then there is a better chance that you
are able to convince the policymakers of your proposals.
 Fixers are able to understand the political process and the policy. They know the
perfect time to introduce the proposal and the perfect people to pitch the idea to.
Fixer also understand that context is important and they know that if the solution
is not applicable to the given situation, then there is a great chance that the
solution will not be accepted.
Targeting the policy process:
There are some CSOs that prefer to act on their own rather than according to the
policy process, and because of this no strategy is followed when actually engaging in
the policy process. Not following a strategy will make the process inefficient and
therefore nothing will change and the problems will remain problems.
The policy process has a framework (agenda setting, formulation, implementation,
evaluation and underlying) and this framework can be used to ensure that the
interventions are as influential as possible. This will ensure that the proposal has an
impact and the solutions will have a better chance of being accepted.

 Fundraising: Mobilising resources

The ability to mobilise resources is a valuable skill for advocacy networks. Access to
financial resources expands the options available to the advocacy network and gives
members the freedom to try new, creative, or even higher risk activities than would be
possible with limited funds. No matter how much an advocacy campaign benefits from
financial resources, it is entirely possible to launch a successful campaign with the
 resources and energy of network members alone. This session presents an overview of
fundraising for advocacy. Networks that are committed to raising money to support their
advocacy efforts should consider organising a separate workshop on fundraising, and
engaging the services of a professional fundraiser as a resource specialist. Given the
recent and rapid growth of the NGO sector and the scarcity of resources, fundraising is an
area that requires considerable information and technical skill.
Potential funding sources:

Funding is always a concern. In order to get important things done, funding is generally
involved. Some examples of potential funding sources that can be used include:
 Grants that are given by private donors
 Contracts that are approved by government
 Donations made by individuals that want to help
 Membership fees
 Donations from institutions or public corporations.
Donors as your audience:
There are times when you will be required to petition donations directly from your audience.
Certain things can be used to gain a positive response from the audience. These are language,
the style used for the presentation, and the quality of the information used. It is important to
let the audience know exactly how their donations will be able to help others, requiring the
clear outlining of policy strategies.
The things that the audience generally like to see are:
 An efficiently run initiative
 A policy that is financially stable and can provide budget information
 A policy aimed at providing a number of successful key goals
 A policy that can provide a good strategy for meeting these goals
A policy that meets all these criteria will best attract donors and aid the targeted communities.
Donations can come in the form of money, equipment, expertise, administrative support, or
even labour.
There have, unfortunately, been cases where donors are afraid to commit to a project because
of the agenda that other donors have attached. If the organisation gets a reputation for making
deals with people who are not trustworthy because they always have agendas, it may chase
away other potential donors.
General fundraising suggestions:
Funding is necessary for the proposal to be accepted and the policy changes to be agreed
upon. Some fundraising suggestions that can be considered include:
 Do research to see which types of businesses have donated to a similar cause to yours
in the past.
 It is important to accept donations and grants that do not match any specific advocacy
objectives that you have. This is done to avoid donors having control.
 It is important to match the donor’s programmatic and ideological agendas with your
advocacy objectives.
 You need to have a diverse funding base as your goal.
Qualified individuals need to be appointed that can lead the fundraising effectively.
Relationships are key to this endeavour. Ensure that you invest time and effort into
securing your connections. This is important to maintain any support for advocacy efforts.