Advocacy and Policy Change Evaluation: Theory and Practice - Softcover

Gardner, Annette; Brindis, Claire

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0804792569 ISBN 13: 9780804792561

Verlag: Stanford University Press, 2017

Inhaltsangabe

This is the first book-length treatment of the concepts, designs, methods, and tools needed to conduct effective advocacy and policy change evaluations. By integrating insights from different disciplines, Part I provides a conceptual foundation for navigating advocacy tactics within today's turbulent policy landscape. Part II offers recommendations for developing appropriate evaluation designs and working with unique advocacy and policy change-oriented instruments. Part III turns toward opportunities and challenges in this growing field. In addition to describing actual designs and measures, the chapters includes suggestions for addressing the specific challenges of working in a policy setting, such as a long time horizon for achieving meaningful change.

To illuminate and advance this area of evaluation practice, the authors draw on over 30 years of evaluation experience; collective wisdom based on a new, large-scale survey of evaluators in the field; and in-depth case studies on diverse issues-from the environment, to public health, to human rights. Ideal for evaluators, change makers, and funders, this book is the definitive guide to advocacy and policy change evaluation.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Annette L. Gardner is Assistant Professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco.Claire D. Brindis is Professor of Pediatrics and Health Policy and Director of the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco.

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Advocacy and Policy Change Evaluation

Theory and Practice

By Annettte L. Gardner, Claire D. Brindis

STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

Copyright © 2017 Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-8047-9256-1

Contents

Preface, 
Acknowledgments, 
List of Illustrations, 
PART 1: Useful Theories and Conceptual Models, 
1. Policy and Policymaking: Making a Difference, 
2. Advocacy: Influencing Decision-Making, 
PART 2: Appropriate Designs, Outcomes, and Methods, 
3. Designing Advocacy and Policy Change Evaluations, 
4. Outcomes and Methods in Advocacy and Policy Change Evaluation, 
5. Unique Instruments for Advocacy and Policy Change Evaluation, 
PART 3: Leveraging Wisdom from the Field, 
6. Evaluator Roles and Relationships with Stakeholders, 
7. Advancing Advocacy and Policy Change Evaluation Practice, 
Appendix A: Six Evaluation Cases, 
Appendix B: Advocacy and Policy Change Evaluation Resources, 
References, 
Index, 

CHAPTER 1

POLICY AND POLICYMAKING

Making a Difference

INTRODUCTION

Policy and policymaking permeates and shapes our daily lives, from mandating funding for public schools to regulating the disposal of hazardous materials. No one is untouched by public policies, and when well thought out and implemented, they are potent vehicles for social betterment. The policy process and its outcomes are the raison d'etre of government and a lens on the ongoing debate about the nature of societal problems and appropriate solutions. Public policymaking is also increasingly viewed as a venue for individuals, organizations, and groups to intervene and achieve system-wide change that heretofore was limited to the privileged few. But engaging in policy change, be it organizing a community to act on its own behalf or examining the implementation of a newly minted measure, bill, or budget, is a daunting undertaking under any circumstance. Understanding the challenges as well as opportunities for change are necessary first steps to designing a successful advocacy and policy change (APC) evaluation. In this chapter, we review the scholarship on public policy and describe the concepts that are important to advocacy and policy change evaluation practice, including the nature of policy change. We focus on public sector policymaking or decisions made by federal, state, local, and municipal governments, be it laws, regulatory measures, or funding priorities though many of the same principles apply outside of the public sector.

Through a tailored review of public policy scholarship, we aim to provide a handy reference for evaluators who are new to the policymaking process, and/or evaluating it and wanting for a bird's eye view. While theory building is outside the purview of many advocacy and policy change evaluations, evaluators can still use theory to understand a complicated policy venue: the type of policy, models of the policy change mechanism, and the different policymaking venues. Be forewarned, this is a changing and somewhat chaotic arena, with vague boundaries and a weak theoretical foundation. Characterizing the steps that a policy goes through before it becomes law is not a particularly difficult task. However, understanding the political actors and institutions and their roles and relationships at each stage of the decision-making process is a different matter since they are less transparent and possibly in flux as environmental factors change, such as a change in administration. (Please note: These models and definitions speak primarily to U.S. public policymaking. However, we are intentionally broad in our inclusion and description of these concepts since many political systems share the same components of government, elections, organized interests, and a decision-making process.)

With this groundwork laid, we provide recommendations for incorporating policymaking concepts and models into evaluation practice. While incorporating a policy change model into an evaluation design can be challenging since stakeholders may have competing theories of change, some policy frameworks, such as the policymaking stage model, can be readily adapted to many different types of evaluations in different contexts. This and other models will be described in this chapter. As with many other types of evaluations, articulating and facilitating a shared understanding of the assumptions about the policymaking process is key in setting the parameters of an advocacy and policy change evaluation.

Last, to ground this discussion to the reality of policymaking, we tap into the findings from the 2014 Aspen/UCSF APC Evaluation Survey completed by 106 APC evaluators, as well as describe and compare the real-life policy issues that were targeted by advocates in the six advocacy and policy change evaluation cases that were developed for this book. While not representative of the universe of policy arenas and issues, the cases illustrate the diversity of policy types, geographic levels of decision-making, and venues where policymaking takes place.

WHAT IS POLICY?

There is no one definition of "public policy," and it can be narrowly or broadly defined. For example, one classic political science definition, "Public policy is whatever governments choose to do or not to do" (Dye 2002, 1), is too broad to be of use to evaluators. It belies the complexity of the actual decision-making process. It also overlooks the role that values play and that in many cases, policymaking is deciding which values will prevail, such as whether responsibility for implementation of a new program should be done at the federal or state level or left to the private sector (Kraft and Furlong 2010). Political scientist Thomas Birkland (2001, 20) provides a list of attributes that are commonly used to define policy and that is more helpful for framing an advocacy and policy evaluation design:

• Policy is made in the public's name.

• Policy is generally made or initiated by government.

• Policy is what government intends to do (is purposive) on behalf of the public.

• Policy is what the government chooses not to do.

• Policy is interpreted and implemented by public and private actors.

These attributes — the how, what, and where policy is made — and their application to evaluation practice are described in the next sections.

THE POLICYMAKING PROCESS

We look to the political science arena for models that we believe will help evaluators develop a more robust understanding of the policymaking process and the contextual factors that shape it. As explained by political scientist Thomas Dye (2002), these models describe a distinct way of thinking about policy, but they are not mutually exclusive and they can be combined to explain a policy's trajectory. These models overlap in that they focus on representation, as well as the distribution of power and likelihood of incremental or radical policy change. They explain how public and private institutions, organized interests, and policymakers interact to produce and implement policies. In their broadest sense, they characterize the nature and role of individuals and groups, the role of information and beliefs in decision-making, the level of action, and activities at various stages of the policy process (Schlager and Blomquist 1996). Increasingly, public policy models take a systems approach and detail the relationships among these components and provide evaluators with a foundation on which...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Stanford University Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2017
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0804792569
• ISBN 13: 9780804792561
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 288
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Mare Nostrum Group B.V.; gpsr@mare-nostrum.co.uk; ; Doelen 72; Breda; 4831 GR; Niederlande