STAR-Ghana Foundation has organized a capacity building training on Policy Brief writing for staff. The training sought to educate and equip the targeted staff with the fundamentals of good policy briefs and critical skills for tailoring policy documents to achieve the intended result.
The two-day training focused on understanding the basics of developing good policy briefs. It also highlighted the importance of clearly defining gaps and recommending workable solutions. The meeting noted, that applying the rule of accuracy, brevity and clarity helps to structure writing and focus on the essential action point in a policy brief. Participants were taken through the rudiments and types of policy briefs, how to structure it, how to give it the needed punch and who to influence among other crucial areas of consideration.
Moreso, the content of the presentation triggered questions and conversations bothering on what a more preferred structure for is achieving the intended purpose of the policy brief. Also, concerns over exercising the responsibility of spearheading policy conversations and or using focal persons to champion a course of action were rife among the participants who later sort clarity from the facilitator.
In his opening remarks, Executive Director of the Foundation, Alhaji Amidu Ibrahim-Tanko emphasized the importance of the training to the core functions of the organization. He maintained, for the Foundation to be able to use its work influence change, one of the critical tools it needs is a good policy brief. “This training is fundamental to the success of STAR-Ghana Foundation”, the Executive Director reiterated. According to him, “whether we’re talking about Peace and Security, our work in the North, Girls’ Education, Sustainability of the Civil Society sector, or Youth Development; this issue of how we use the evidence from our work to engage policy makers to influence policy making and implementation is paramount”.
The two-day training facilitated by Dr Dede, also involved practical exercises on summarizing an existing policy brief and redeveloping same with current information. The exercise culminated into a mock presentation to an inhouse panel by the two groups derived from the participants.
The renowned development practitioner, writer, and Policy specialist later tasked the participants to complete their assignments by updating the policy brief.
