Keep an eye on the horizon and prepare for opportunities in regular policy processes
From Comunica iGuides
This activity involves a bit of oracle work. In order to be prepared for future opportunities, we must understand the dynamics of policy making processes, as well as development on the political scene in general (entry of a new government into power might lead to devaluation of our links with policy makers which we built with such a care). This involves particularly:
- Keeping track of all policy making processes, round-tables and public debates, as well as other events that might change power relations on policy making scene (e.g. elections)
- Keeping a dynamic record of all windows for interventions legally guaranteed by given policy-making processes (public comments on policy proposals), as well as informal windows that accompany such processes
- Building relationships with and involving in discussion with experts who are not currently having influence on public policies but who might have it in future
- Positioning oneself as a recognized and credible expert on specific public policy issues, by boosting own online presence and active participation in relevant online spaces and face-to-face events.
Strategy: keep track of all policy making processes
| Tools and Usage | Potentials | Limitations | Examples |
| Site update alerts
Alerts from sites/pages when content is added - Tools like Versionista or Change Alert | Alerts can be used to monitor websites of all stakeholders, using key terms related to specific issue/policy. | ||
| Calendar applications (online or desktop) |
Strategy: Keep dynamic record of all windows for interventions legally guaranteed by given policy-making processes
| Tools and Usage | Potentials | Limitations | Examples |
| Google Sites – set up including online planner | A Google Sites website can be set up which includes a planner displaying timeline of policy making processes (milestones), links to spaces where these processes are publicized, where feedback is collected, etc. |
Strategy: Building relationships with and involving in discussion with experts who are not currently having influence on public policies
| Tools and Usage | Potentials | Limitations | Examples |
| Blogs | Blog authors love having users comment on their blogs. Involving in discussion with people who write relevant articles on issue related to specific policies can help us find experts and future alies. | ||
| Social Networking tools | Link with people with similar interest/expertise who publish their views on publicly accessible social networking spaces | ||
| Online forums | Find other experts and link with them on online forums dedicated to discussing specific policy issues. |
Strategy: Position yourself as a recognized and credible expert on specific public policy issues, by boosting own online presence
| Tools and Usage | Potentials | Limitations | Examples |
| Blogs | Blogs can nowadays gain as much credibility as traditional scientific publications, while they can receive much wider attention. | Building a blog that is recognized as a credible and valuable source of information requires:
- prudence in information accuracy (as is required in any scientific journal) - persistence – blogs must be regularly updated in order to keep the community involved. | |
| Webinar – a real time online video seminar on a specific issue
Robust and popular webinar (online meeting) systems are Blackboard Collaborate and Webex. A popular free service is, for example, DimDim.com .
| Thematic webinars can be organized periodically, for specific groups of participants, or topic-specific.
If well done, webinars represent a good way to bring people together and have them learn in a participative way. | Production of a webinar is time consuming
Steeper learning curve in for using the tool effectively and organizing webinars Most webinar services are costly (the user has to pay in order to be able to use the platform to organize webinars). Free webinar systems have limited features and not always work on all operating systems. |
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Table of Contents of the iGuide
This iGuide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license.
Impact 2.0 is a project of the Fundación Comunica with funding provided by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), 
Ottawa, Canada.
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