1. Introduction

This advocacy guide has been shaped by a decade of experience supporting a broad range of governmental and civil society actors through all stages of policy research and advocacy projects in producing research, evidence, and analysis that informs local and international policymaking processes¹. Since the publication Writing Effective Public Policy Papers in 2002², we have seen a steadily growing demand in transition countries³ from donors, international organizations, think tanks, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and government agencies to develop their capacity to produce and consume evidence-based analysis of policy issues in order to influence decision-making. Developing the capacity of individuals and institutions to effectively produce such expert insights needs time, resources, and considerable effort and is still an ongoing project in the transition region. Unfortunately, the focus has to date largely centered on the formulation of policy research and analysis, and considerably less on the communication of such policy insights. As a result, many smart ideas and solutions remain the preserve of expert communities and the academy exactly in those countries where practical insights are desperately needed. This also means that such rational, evidence-based thinking has not become a regular feature of the culture of local policy debates and largely remains the preserve of the international arena.

Our capacity development work focuses on bridging this key communication gap and this guide is the next step: the last manual detailed how to produce effective research-based policy studies, this sister publication turns to their practical use, that is, how to take the key insights learned through research and analysis and feed them into the policymaking process to inform or influence decision-making. Put another way, the focus of this manual is on effective policy advocacy that is firmly grounded in evidence and expert analysis.