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Documentation toolkit info card: policy reports
A policy report is a documentation and communication product that provides a written account of an organisation's experiences, lessons, opinions, and recommendations about a selected subject.
A policy report:
- Is a tool to communicate specific messages and arguments about an issue or area of work - sharing what an organisation has done and learned to date, and what it thinks it or others should do in future.
- Is primarily for external audiences (such as donors and government policy-makers), but can also be useful reference materials for internal ones.
- Requires an authoritative style - making strong arguments and backing them up with concrete facts and examples.
- Can vary widely in format, but should be concise - usually not more than 20 pages long.
Key questions
Key questions to ask before developing a policy report are:
? Is what you have to say about the subject special, important and convincing enough to justify producing a policy report?
? Is there a market for your policy report? Will enough of the right type of people want to read it and use it? Is it worth your NGO's/CBO's time, money and effort?
? Who should write the policy report? For example, should it be written by an "expert" on the subject, or by someone who is a strong writer?
Structure and content
These pages show an example of a structure and content outline for a policy report about an NGO/CBO involving people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA) in HIV prevention. The outline shows what the product will contain and in what order. The boxes around it provide some key "dos and don'ts" about how to make a policy report as effective as possible.
List of abbreviations
Executive summary
DO include an Executive Summary, but do not include points that are not in the main text. Be aware that, with a policy audience, this may be all that many people will read - so ensure that it gives a good summary of your key points.
Introduction Overview of the NGO/CBO and its work What does the involvement of PLHA mean? Why does the involvement of PLHA matter?
DON'T cover too much in the introduction, but do: Provide some context. Explain what you are going to discuss and what your key points are going to be. Credit those that supported the work.
First key point: Personal benefits of the involvement of PLHA Outline of main benefits - description and examples Relevant lessons learned and conclusions
DO keep your lessons and conclusions related to what you have discussed. Ensure that they reflect on your weaknesses as well as your strengths.
Second key point: Organisational benefits of the involvement of PLHA Outline of main benefits - description and examples Relevant lessons learned and conclusions
Third key point: Community benefits of the involvement of PLHA Outline of main benefits - description and examples Relevant lessons learned and conclusions
Fourth key point: Policy benefits of the involvement of PLHA Outline of main benefits - description and examples Relevant lessons learned and conclusions
Recommendations For NGOs/CBOs, community groups and PLHA For policy makers and donors
DO keep your recommendations: Focused on policy issues. Linked to your conclusions. Positive and diplomatic. Realistic, clear and concise.
DO draft an outline of the contents and check it with everyone involved before you start writing the report. Include: Title page. Executive summary. Introduction. Results and discussion. Conclusions. Recommendations.
DO focus on policy issues and avoid long descriptions of processes and technical details.
DO use information responsibly. For example do not: Use contradictory information - unless you explain it. Fill your report with irrelevant information just to make it longer. Use other people's data without referencing it. Use photographs or quotations from people without getting their permission.
Style
This page looks at the style of policy reports - meaning how they are designed. It provides some ideas about how to make them as interesting and attractive as possible.
Keep the tone of your policy report confident and authoritative. Avoid spelling and grammatical mistakes that might detract from the importance of what you are saying.
Use an assertive and authoritative style for your policy report, but also be honest about your relevant weaknesses and lessons learned.
Bring the issues in your policy report to life - by including case studies, stories and visuals.
Balance the style and content of your policy report. Remember that a report with good information but bad presentation will be hard to follow, while a report with beautiful design but poor content will be unconvincing.
Make it clear who has produced your policy report - so that it helps to raise your NGO's/CBO's profile. For example, the Panos Institute included their name, logo and contact details on the back cover of their report "Beyond our means?", 2000, along with a summary of the contents
Source: Documenting and communicating HIV/AIDS work
This is an extract from Documenting and communicating HIV/AIDS work: a toolkit to support NGOs/CBOs, published by the International HIV/AIDS
Alliance in October 2001.
To view the whole toolkit follow this link.
To download this card and three others, complete with graphics, in pdf format (which requires Adobe Acrobat software to read it) follow this link (file size 482kb).