Module 31 ยท The Policy Brief
Three boxes a decision-maker reads in two minutes
- Structure a policy brief: problem, finding, recommendation.
- Strip an analysis to what a director needs.
- Tie the recommendation directly to the finding.
A policy brief strips the analysis down to what a busy director actually needs: the problem, the finding, and the recommendation. No methods section, no R output, no suspense. Here is our supervision study written up as a brief.
Routine immunization coverage keeps falling below target across the LGA, and one-off investments in single interventions have not closed the gap.
Coverage stayed low in exactly the facilities where the cold chain was broken or monthly supportive supervision was missing. Where both were in place, coverage held. Training and community mobilisation, notably, did not separate the strugglers from the rest.
Target the two difference-makers directly. Repair and maintain cold chain equipment, and guarantee monthly supervision at every facility. Spreading the same budget thinly across interventions that do not move the outcome predicts more of the same low coverage.
Draft a three-box brief for a real problem.
- Can a busy director grasp it in two minutes?
- Does your recommendation follow logically from the finding, with nothing extra?