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Understand the process by which research informs the policy environment.Identify key policy audiences.Identify and communicate the policy implications of research.Communicate messages through a variety of platforms, including policy briefs, oral presentations, data visualizations, social media, and more.
Identify policies and policy stakeholders at multiple levels (such as community, institutional, sub-national, and national).Identify information needed to understand the policy landscape for a specific issue.Identify three or more barriers to research informing policy.Describe the Windows of Opportunity policy change framework.Identify three strategies that researchers can use to create a window of opportunity for policy change.
Identify a policy change goal.
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Policy Communication Toolkit
This Policy Communication Toolkit is a resource to bridge the gap that often lies between research and policy. It consolidates tools, materials, and approaches PRB has developed and refined over 30 years of training researchers to communicate with policy audiences. Research often has profound implications for policy, but without effective communication between researchers and policy audiences, the significance of research findings may be lost. Through this toolkit, users can build skills to bridge this gap, with the goal of increasing the use of evidence in policy and decisionmaking.
This training toolkit includes all the materials PRB uses to train family planning, reproductive health, and population researchers, experts, and advocates to:
Researchers, nongovernmental organizations, donors, advocacy organizations, think tanks, and universities can use this toolkit to develop training programs according to their specific needs.
Modules
Each module contains learning objectives, instructional presentations, individual and group exercises, and suggested homework/reading. Each session includes guidance for facilitators, such as presentation speaker notes, instructions for exercises, and guidelines for discussion.
Completing all sessions included in the toolkit’s modules would require a 2-week training, which is not feasible for most users. The content included in the first two modules (From Research to Policy and Strategic Communication) provide the conceptual underpinning for how to communicate data and evidence to policy audiences. The subsequent modules focus on building those communication skills for a certain medium. Consider what skills—writing, presentations, negotiations, social media, data visualization, or traditional media—would be most valuable to your participants, then select the sessions from relevant modules. Module 9, Youth Leaders, includes additional recommendations on which other modules to include when training youth participants.
Each component of the toolkit has a code affiliated with it, such as WM1L. The code includes the initials of the module, a number for the suggested order of the module’s sessions, and a letter designating the type of material (see table). These codes help with organization and cross-referencing within the curriculum.
L Lecture E Exercise A Assignment G Group Discussion D Discussion F Field Trip
French and Spanish translations of the training curriculum can be downloaded as a zip file from each module’s landing page, with the exception of Module 9, which is forthcoming.
Using the Toolkit
Depending on participants’ needs, trainers can select from among the modules and sessions included in the toolkit to build a curriculum that best suits their goals and participants’ skill level. Although most toolkit sessions are geared toward researchers, the content can be easily adapted for other participants, such as program staff, program implementers, advocates, and youth leaders.
Each module contains between one and five instructional presentations that outline key concepts and policy communication skills. Additional sessions and exercises build on the instructional presentations, adding complexity and providing opportunities for participants to apply the skills individually and in small groups. Supplementary Activities include Working Group sessions where participants meet with a mentor in a small group, discussing and gaining feedback on how they apply the skills to their own research or advocacy topic. Supplementary Activities also include guidance for designing optional sessions with external speakers or suggested site visits. Over several decades, we have found that allowing participants time to truly apply the policy communication skills through their own research topics facilitates the most valuable learning.
Planning a Successful Workshop
To plan a successful workshop, identify what skills are most relevant for your participant group.
Preparing participants in advance is critical to the success of any workshop. Convey the agenda and expectations for the workshop in advance. Depending on how you structure the sessions, homework readings and assignments will likely be required outside of training hours. Many of the exercises ask participants to apply the skills to a body of research or advocacy topic with which they are familiar. Participants should come to the training with the results of that research, or a clearly defined topic for advocacy, in order to make the most of these sessions. While most examples in this training focus on family planning method choice in developing countries, the policy communication skills can be adapted and applied to any topic area.
Module 1: From Research to Policy
The From Research to Policy module provides an introduction to policy and explores how research can influence the policy process. Participants consider the policy context they wish to influence, explore different types of barriers to informing policy, and apply a model of policy change that can be influenced by research. This module introduces a framework for policy change that forms the foundation for many subsequent sessions in the curriculum.
At the conclusion of this module, participants will be able to:
Components
Understanding the Policy Landscape (RP1L)
Time: 40 min.
An introduction to policy and exploration of how participants can begin to identify the context of their particular topic, what policies exist, and what policy actions are needed.
Components
Policy Landscape Worksheet (RP2E)
Time: 30 min. or homework
Following the Understanding the Policy Landscape presentation, participants will apply the concepts through a worksheet outlining what they know about the policy landscape in their own settings and what information is needed to understand the landscape more fully.
Components
The Research-to-Policy Gap (RP3L)
Time: 1 hr 15 min.
This presentation illustrates the gap that exists between research and policy, explains different reasons for the gap, and identifies some approaches that can help bridge the gap.
Components
Required Preparation
Fundamentals of the Policy Process (RP4L)
Time: 45 min.
This presentation introduces a framework for policy change that identifies how research and policy communication can information policy changes. The framework includes three key strategies that researchers can use to influence the process.
Components
Required Preparation
Generating Political Priority (RP5E)
Time: 1 hr.
In this small group exercise, participants apply the framework introduced in the Fundamentals of the Policy Process presentation to a case study of policy change.
Components
Required Preparation
Supplemental Activities
Working Group Session 1 (RPS1G)
Time: 1 hr.
In this first Working Group session, participants discuss their areas of research or advocacy. This session is particularly valuable to participants who will be working with results of complex research studies, and provides an opportunity for them to share their research objectives, methods, and results before moving on to the policy messages of that research.
Components
Links Between Research and Policy (RPS2D)
Time: Varies
This session provides an opportunity to hear from an expert policy advocate or policy audience about what messages are most effective. Participants always enjoy hearing “real life” stories about communicating research to policymakers.
Components
Policy Visit/s (RPS3F)
Time: Varies
Similar to session RPS2D, this session offers the chance to visit a policy organization and meet with multiple researchers or policymakers.
Components
Module 2: Strategic Communication
In the Strategic Communication module participants learn how to be strategic in their policy communication approaches in order to influence policy change. The focus is on identifying communication objectives and key audiences, and crafting evidence-based messages that are relevant to a policy change goal. These steps form the foundation of a communication strategy. Participants practice these steps through both small group exercises and individual exercises based on their own research. The concepts introduced in this module are key to successfully understanding and applying the skills taught in Modules 3 through 8. This module contains two sessions directed toward those who do not have a strong foundation in research, yet want to ensure that their advocacy messages are evidence-based.
At the conclusion of this module, participants will be able to:
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