Fely Marilyn E.

Lorenzo RN,MPH, DrPH

Department of Health Policy and
Administration
College of Public Health, UP Manila
Policy Change Cycle
Frameworks of Policy Making
Lecture 1 HPAD 205 Saturdays AY 20120-2013
Definitions: POLICY
Policy encompasses the
choices that a society, segment
of society, or organization makes
regarding its goals and priorities
and how it will allocate its
resources.
Definitions: POLICY
Principles that govern action
directed towards given ends
(Titmus, 1974)
Consciously chosen course of
action (or inaction) directed toward
some end (Kalisch and Kalisch,
1982)
Plan, direction or goal for action;
authoritative decision making
(Stimpson ands Hanley, 1991)

Policy Types: Public Policy
Substantive decisions, commitments,
and actions made by those who
hold or affect government positions
of authority as they are interpreted
by various stakeholders. (Bryson
and Crosby)
Called policies, plans, programs,
projects, decisions, actions, budgets,
rules and regulations.

Policy Types: Social
Policy
Pertains to the directives that
promote the welfare of the
public.
e.g. Magna Carta for Public
Health Workers- law that could
be viewed as a policy that
promotes the welfare of health
workers.

Policy Types
Health Policy
Includes the directives and
goals for promoting the
health of citizens.
e.g. Generic Drug Act,
Tobacco Regulation Act



Policy Types :Organizational
Policies



Rules governing and positions
taken by organizations, such as
the PNA or IRNUP, PRC,PMA

Policy Types: Institutional
Policies

Policies that govern workplaces

What the institutions goals will be ;
How it will operate;
How the institution will treat its employees,
and
How employees will work.
e.g. sexual harassment policy,
contractualization policy

Frameworks of Policy
Development

1.Policy Making

2. Policy Analysis

3. Policy Research
Policy Making
Concerned with maintaining and
developing the polity- the condition of
civil order, form and process of civil
government, organized society and
state with the adoption of courses of
action by political parties, governments
and other important social
organizations, and with issues in the
science and art of governing

Policy Development Process:
A. Need Assessment
1. Identify the scope and limits of the problem
2. Identify the actors and stakeholders
B. Policy Making
1. Conceptualize the causes of the problem
2. Collect information, procedures alternative
solutions
3. Involve actors in choosing from policy
alternatives
C. Policy Implementation
1. Disseminate and publicize policy
2. Establish behavior changes based on the policy
3. Monitor and revise the policy

Policy Analysis
Client- oriented advice relevant to public decisions
and informed by social values
Emphasize professional mind set rather than skill
mastery
Emphasize the importance of social values in policy
analysis

Policy Research
Focuses on relationships between variables that
reflect social problems and other variables that
can be manipulated by public policy.
- Desired product of is a more-or-
less verified hypothesis of the form: if
the government does X, they Y will
result.
Policy Research
Iterative by recognizing that there
are no perfect solutions to policy
problems and therefore that the
impact of one solution will lead to
the need for new solutions either
in the same or in a different policy
Policy Research
Different from bio-medical or
epidemiologic research in the following
ways
Multidisciplinary using multiple
methods to analyze components,
Inductive rather than deductive-
problem driven, not theory-driven.


Policy Research
Pragmatic by taking account of the policy
environment and arriving at solutions that are
feasible given existing institutional structures
Focuses on malleable variables i.e. variables that
are under the control of and can be changed by
the policy makers.
Responsive by involving stakeholders and taking
account of their values.

Policy Making Process: What is a
Policy?

Rules to establish, control or
change the behavior of institutions
and/ or individuals in order to
solve a problem.
May be explicit or implicit
Includes public policy as well as
decision-making
Policy Making Process: World in which
policies are made
3 Components:
a. Institutions and mechanisms
making or contributing to decision-
making
b. Information used in decision-
making
c. The values and beliefs held by
institutions and beliefs
a. Vested interest
b. Beliefs
c. Core values

THE WORLD IN WHICH POLICIES ARE MADE (Lomas)
Evidence Data
Research
Knowledge
Researchers
and
Universities
Advocates Policy
Brokers Media
BELIEFS
Causal
Assumptions

CORE
VALUES
Ideologies

INTERESTS



FORMAL
STRUCTURE
Executive
Legislative
Bureaucracy
INFORMAL
SRUCTURE
Networks
Coalitions
Stakeholders
Citizens
Social
Problem/
Issue
Policies
VALUES
Policy Development Process

a. Problem identification/ clarification
b. Decision that it is an important problem to study-
policy research/ analysis
c. Proposal of policy alternatives
d. Selecting from policy alternatives
e. Implementation of policy
f. Evaluation


The Policy Change Cycle
Initial
Agreement
(Plan for
Planning)
Issue
Problem
Formulation
Creation
Search for
Solution
Policy of
Plan or
Formulation
Proposal
Review and
Adoption
Implementation
And Evaluation
Policy or Plan
Maintenance,
Succession or
Termination
Triggering
Mechanisms
Containment
Mechanisms
Public Agenda Formant Agents
The Policy Environment
Selection from Policy Alternatives/
Implementation
1. Generating policy alternatives
Time frame short term, medium
term, long term
Extent of behavior change
required by policy: incremental or
fundamental
Selection from Policy Alternatives/
Implementation
Types of Policy Instruments
Financial measures
Regulatory or control measures
Information-related
Symbolic priority setting
Research and development

Selection from policy alternatives/
Implementation
2. Implementability of policy
alternatives
Values of stakeholders
Organizational structure for
implementing policy
Current political situation

Selection from Policy Alternatives/
Implementation
3. Finalization of policy
recommendations
Revisions because of the political
situation
Revisions because of the value of
stakeholders
Revisions because the
organizational structure is
inadequate.

Commitment

To search for the

COMMON GOOD

Through Health Policy Development
Basic Preparation for Policy Analysis
1. Analysts must gather, organize and communicate
information in situations where deadlines are strict and
access to relevant people are limited.
- Develop strategies for quickly understanding the nature of
policy problems and the range of possible solutions.
- Identify, at least qualitatively, the likely costs and benefits of
alternative solutions and communicate these

2. Analysts need a perspective for putting perceived social
problems in context.
- Market failure
- Government failure
- Sufficiency requires that the form of the intervention does not
involve consequences that would inflict greater social costs
than social benefits.
Basic Preparation for Policy Analysis
3. Analysts need technical skills to enable them to
predict better and evaluate more confidently the
consequences of alternative policies
- Micro- Economics
- Public Finance
- Statistics
- Organizational Behavior
- Political Behavior
- Evaluation Research
- Especially Benefit Cost Analysis

Basic Preparation for Policy Analysis
4. Analysts must understand political and organizational
behavior in order to predict, and perhaps influence,
the feasibility of adoption and successful
implementation of policies.
- Understand worldviews of clients and potential
opponents

5. Analysts should have an ethical framework that
explicitly takes account of their relationships to clients.