Policy Advocacy Organizations: A Framework Linking Theory and Practice

Gen, Sheldon; Wright, Amy Conley

doi:10.1080/15588742.2013.795477

Cited by 47 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…As advocates have specialized knowledge and skills, they play an important role in ensuring that research evidence is used in the policy process. 17, 41 It is important that advocates have access to the scientific evidence necessary to inform an evidence-based policy agenda and that this information have the characteristics advocates find most important and that it comes from sources they feel are reliable/trustworthy.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…14 Simply put, policy advocacy can be defined as intentional activities initiated to influence the policy making process. 17 Information exchange between advocates and policymakers is critical for influencing the policy process and mobilizing these changes. Advocates utilize a number of methods to influence the policy change process in the United States, which include garnering public support, building relationships with decision makers, collaborating with other organizations, and serving as an important resource for policy topics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Accessing evidence to inform public health policy: a study to enhance advocacy

et al. 2015

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Objectives Improving population health often involves policy changes that are the result of complex advocacy efforts. Information exchanges among researchers, advocates, and policymakers is paramount to policy interventions to improve health outcomes. This information may include evidence on what works well for whom and cost effective strategies to improve outcomes of interest. However, this information is not always readily available or easily communicated. The purposes of this paper are to describe ways advocates seek information for health policy advocacy and to compare advocate demographics. Study design Cross-sectional telephone survey Methods Seventy-seven state-level advocates were asked about the desirable characteristics of policy-relevant information including methods of obtaining information, what makes it useful, and what sources make evidence most reliable/trustworthy. Responses were explored for the full sample and variety of subsamples (i.e., gender, age, and position on social and fiscal issues). Differences between groups were tested using t-tests and one-way analysis of variance. Results On average, advocates rated frequency of seeking research information as 4.3 out of five. Overall, advocates rated the Internet as the top source, rated unbiased research and research with relevancy to their organization as the most important characteristics, and considered information from their organization as most reliable/believable. When ratings were examined by subgroup, the two characteristics most important for each question in the total sample (listed above) emerged as most important for nearly all subgroups. Conclusions Advocates are a resource to policymakers on health topics in the policy process. This study, among the first of its kind, found that advocates seek research information, but have a need for evidence that is unbiased and relevant to their organizations and report that university-based information is reliable. Researchers and advocates should partner so research is useful in advocating for evidence-based policy change.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accessing evidence to inform public health policy: a study to enhance advocacy

et al. 2015

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“…Also noteworthy is those established health organizations that are deciding to invest in policy work, whether to achieve specific goals or to seek public recognition as "senior" players. A traditional stakeholder may be satisfied with providing input whenever policy objectives are formulated and public action is planned, in the early phases of the process; new "policy rich" organizations typically attempt to engage throughout the full policy cycle, including at the stages of implementation and assessment of outcomes (10). One important role of policy units is to make public authorities aware of the complexity of problems and of the limits of any solution that relies too heavily on any one type of policy instruments (11).…”

Section: How To Foster Policy Capacitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Health reform requires policy capacity

Forest

Denis

Brown

et al. 2015

Int J Health Policy Manag

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Among the many reasons that may limit the adoption of promising reform ideas, policy capacity is the least recognized. The concept itself is not widely understood. Although policy capacity is concerned with the gathering of information and the formulation of options for public action in the initial phases of policy consultation and development, it also touches on all stages of the policy process, from the strategic identification of a problem to the actual development of the policy, its formal adoption, its implementation, and even further, its evaluation and continuation or modification. Expertise in the form of policy advice is already widely available in and to public administrations, to well-established professional organizations like medical societies and, of course, to large private-sector organizations with commercial or financial interests in the health sector. We need more health actors to join the fray and move from their traditional position of advocacy to a fuller commitment to the development of policy capacity, with all that it entails in terms of leadership and social responsibility.

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“…The last article from (Firmansyah, 2010) which discusses the development of a network of policy advocacy in support of anti-corruption movement in the region. Meanwhile, the international journals the author discovers are related to policy advocacy written by (Gen, 2013) which in the journal discusses about synthesizing practitioners and academic literature on policy advocacy and proposing a policy conceptual framework for policy input advocacy, activities and outcomes, and this jour-nal discusses the importance of the framework to provide guidance for organizations to strategically engage the policy process.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%