Public Policy Analysis Training Course

This course equips participants with analytical skills to examine public policy problems and evaluate alternatives. It focuses on policy frameworks, economic reasoning, stakeholder analysis, quantitative and qualitative tools, regulatory analysis, and clear recommendations.

Target Groups

• Public policy analysts and officers
• Government managers and planners
• Legislative and committee staff
• Think-tank and academic researchers
• NGO and advocacy professionals
• Development and donor agency staff
• Managers and supervisors seeking to strengthen organizational practice in this field
• Consultants and professionals supporting related organizations

Course Objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Explain approaches and theories in public policy analysis
• Define public problems and policy objectives
• Apply economic reasoning, including market failure and public goods
• Analyze stakeholders, institutions, and political feasibility
• Construct and compare policy alternatives
• Apply cost-benefit, cost-effectiveness, and risk analysis
• Assess equity, efficiency, and sustainability impacts
• Conduct regulatory impact assessment
• Prepare concise policy memos and presentations
• Evaluate policy performance and recommend improvements

Course Modules

Module 1: Foundations of Public Policy Analysis

• Public policy and public interest
• Analytical frameworks
• Policy actors and levels of government
• Analyst roles
• Ethics and professionalism

Module 2: Defining Problems and Objectives

• Problem structuring
• Evidence on problem scale
• Setting objectives and criteria
• Baseline and counterfactual
• Scoping analysis

Module 3: Economic Foundations for Policy

• Market failure and externalities
• Public goods
• Efficiency and equity
• Incentives and behavior
• Role of government

Module 4: Institutions and Political Feasibility

• Institutional arrangements
• Legislative and executive processes
• Stakeholder analysis
• Political feasibility
• Intergovernmental dynamics

Module 5: Policy Alternatives and Instruments

• Regulation and standards
• Taxes and subsidies
• Information and nudges
• Service delivery models
• Combining instruments

Module 6: Quantitative Policy Appraisal

• Cost-benefit analysis
• Cost-effectiveness
• Discounting
• Sensitivity and risk analysis
• Distributional analysis

Module 7: Qualitative and Comparative Analysis

• Case studies
• Policy transfer and benchmarking
• Scenario thinking
• Stakeholder consultation
• Multi-criteria analysis

Module 8: Regulatory and Impact Assessment

• Regulatory impact analysis
• Fiscal impact
• Social and environmental impact
• Compliance burdens
• Consultation requirements

Module 9: Policy Memos, Communication, and Evaluation

• Writing policy memos
• Presenting recommendations
• Visualization
• Policy evaluation basics
• Learning from results

Module 10: Practical Exercises and Capstone Project

• Structuring a public policy problem
• Developing and comparing alternatives
• Running a cost-benefit or multi-criteria analysis
• Writing a policy memo
• Presenting a policy recommendation to a mock cabinet or committee