What needs to be done following the policy dialogue?

The outcomes of a policy dialogue vary and will depend on the objectives of the dialogue as well as on how public (open) the dialogue was. After the dialogue, possible actions to ensure that the objectives are successfully met include:

Carrying out an initial formative evaluation of the dialogue
Preparing and disseminating a report
Disseminating the policy brief
Arranging other dissemination activities
Consulting further with stakeholders
Following-up on any next steps that are identified
Evaluating the policy dialogue

Carrying out an initial formative evaluation of the dialogue

As soon as possible after a policy dialogue, those involved in organising it should consider the following three questions:

What went well in the dialogue? Consider each component of the meeting, including the process (e.g. the facilitation and the participation of stakeholders), the materials (e.g. how these were made available to participants) and whether the dialogue achieved its objective.
What did not go well in the dialogue? Again, consider each component of the meeting.
What could be done differently or improved next time? Consider what changes you might make that might improve the organisation of the dialogue, the participation of stakeholders, the facilitation of discussion and the extent to which the dialogue is able to achieve its objective.

You should make notes of your thoughts regarding these three questions and circulate these within the team responsible for producing the policy brief. You should also ensure that your suggestions on how to improve the way in which you run policy dialogues in the future are implemented, by assigning any actions identified to individuals within the policy dialogue team.

Preparing and disseminating a report

The preparation and dissemination of a report containing the key messages from the policy dialogue is likely to be the minimum action required to ensure that the objectives of the dialogue are met. If the dialogue discussion was not public or open, the report should respect this. For example, if the Chatham House Rule was applied, the report should not include comments that could be attributable to individuals or to those with identified affiliations. The summary should not include a list of dialogue participants if the participants have not agreed to this. A template for a policy dialogue report is provided in the ‘Additional resources’ section of this guide. Suggestions for preparing such a report are summarised in Box 7.1 below.

Box 7.1 Suggestions for preparing a report of a policy dialogue

The purpose of a policy dialogue report is to capture the views, opinions, insights and understandings (or misunderstandings) of the individual participants. The target audience may vary, but generally includes policymakers and stakeholders with an interest in the problem both in the country and internationally.

Participants in the dialogue should be informed that a report will be prepared. It should be agreed whether opinions will be reported without attribution, and consent should be given to list the dialogue participants in the report.
Careful notes should be kept during the dialogue. Consent should be sought to audio or video record the dialogue, if this is desired.
The report should not be comprehensive. It should focus on key views, opinions and insights that are likely to be of interest and relevance to the target audience.
The report should be readable and understandable to someone who was not a participant in the dialogue.
Abbreviations, acronyms and jargon should be avoided. When they are used, they should be explained.
A draft report should be circulated to the participants and the report should be revised taking account of any corrections or concerns of the participants.

It may be desirable, or have been agreed in advance to produce and disseminate a more detailed report. If, for example, an objective of the dialogue was to obtain a consensus, or if a consensus emerged spontaneously, a statement of consensus should probably be prepared and disseminated. In such instances it would be important to have a process suited to ensuring that participants are in agreement with the statement. It would also be important to agree that dialogue participants would be named as the signatories of the consensus statement.

Disseminating the policy brief

A further important action might be to disseminate the policy brief if this was not disseminated prior to the policy dialogue. If an objective of the policy dialogue was to help clarify the problem or solutions, it may be desirable to revise the policy brief, taking the inputs from the dialogue into account, prior to wider dissemination.

Other dissemination activities

Effective dissemination may require a range of activities, such as the preparation of a press release, organising a press conference, and the targeting of specific groups or constituencies. Strategies for informing and engaging stakeholders are explored further in Guide 8 of this series.

Consulting further with stakeholders

Further stakeholder consultation or the holding of an additional policy dialogue may be warranted. After the dialogue, important knowledge gaps may still remain, or uncertainties or controversies may have been identified: such circumstances could therefore make further consultation with relevant groups or individuals desirable. Similarly, if there was insufficient time to discuss the important issues that arose during the policy dialogue, then holding another policy dialogue may be also be desirable.

Following-up on any next steps that are identified

Any specific actions that were identified during the policy dialogue as the next steps required for developing and implementing a policy, should be recorded and disseminated to participants with a specification of who is responsible for following up on each action.

Fully evaluating the policy dialogue

Finally, the policy dialogue should be fully evaluated. This process should include an evaluation of the extent to which its objectives have been met, its contribution towards addressing the specific problem addressed in the policy brief, and what still needs to be done. A guide to performing policy dialogue evaluations can be found at http://researchtopolicy.org/KTPEs/Procedures-manual. The evaluation form provided in the ‘Additional resources’ section for evaluating the usefulness of this guide in organising and running a policy dialogue should also be completed.