public policies

1. Problem Definition

Policies are developed in response to the existence of a perceived problem or an opportunity; they never exist in a vacuum. The context is extremely important because it will shape the kinds of actions considered. In defining the problem or opportunity and to help address the questions above, background studies are required. The state of affairs needs to be provided which will identify the actors, the issues and the possible means that are available. It is also important to forecast trends in order to identify whether the issue is likely to change

2. Policy Objectives and Options

The eventual success of a policy depends upon establishing clear goals. If there are multiple objectives they must be consistent. They must be flexible enough to change over time as the circumstances evolve

In simple terms the objectives must:

Identify the present conditions and situation, indicate what the goals are, identify the barriers to achieving the goals, identify what is needed from other agencies and the private sector, determine how success will be judged and measured, and identify what steps are required to achieve success.
Having defined the problem and objectives, policy options must be formulated and evaluated. In many cases more than one solution has to be considered for policy adoption. The objectives may be realized in many different ways. Best practices from other jurisdictions may be considered, and all other possible solutions need to be considered. By evaluating the options it may be possible to identify the one that best meets the goals that have been established and at the same time is the best fit for local circumstances. These types of evaluations are referred to as ex ante, because the outcomes are being assessed even before the policy is put into practice. Although one can never completely anticipate the outcome of different prospective policy options, ex ante evaluations are capable of bringing to light what problems may develop when the preferred option is implemented. Thus, when the future policy is to be evaluated (ex post), problems of data, reporting, and identification of success criteria may have been already anticipated and resolved through an earlier ex ante assessment.

Many types of evaluation methods are employed in both ex ante and ex post assessments. These include cost-benefit analysis, multi-criteria analysis, economic impact and Delphi forecasting. Because evaluation takes place at several of the steps in the policy process, it is now regarded as a critically important issue. New ideas involving managing the policy process include performance based management, where evaluation is built into the entire process. It means in the policy process, a great deal of attention has to be paid as to how the goals, results, and beneficiaries are to be measured. The selection of indicators has to be agreed upon by policy managers from the inception.

3. Policy Implementation

The implementation of the selected option represents a critical aspect of the policy process. The most carefully crafted policy that is widely accepted by those it affects can flounder because of improper implementation. It is impossible to define an optimal implementation procedure because of the wide range of socioeconomic circumstances that policies are applied, and also because of the diversity of policies themselves.

4. Policy Evaluation and Maintenance

The implementation stage is not the final step in the policy process. The effectiveness of the policy needs to be assessed after a certain period of time, and steps must be taken to ensure that there are resources and means to maintain a successful policy. In the past, this tended to be overlooked, and after a while policies would be sidetracked by other newer initiatives. The long term effect was the presence of many different policy initiatives frequently with conflicting goals. Prior to the ISTEA, US federal highway policy was marked by an accumulation of interventions, the so-called ‘entitlements’ that were added one after the other, with little thought as to compatibility or integration with other funding. The result was that policies in place frequently conflicted with each other in terms of goals or implementation measures.

On-going program evaluation is thus central to the maintenance of policy. This has tended to be a difficult issue for managers who today find their programs being assessed by methods and data requirements that were never built into the policy initially. Performance Based Management has become an essential tool in the policy process as a result. Under this system evaluation is built into all stages of the policy process, and indicators are agreed upon by the managers who carry out the programs as well as the units that undertake evaluation.