Learning Objectives
- Understand factors that shape whether global health issues gain political attention
- Learn how effective advocacy can be built and sustained for health issues
- Identify strategies for communicating health priorities to decision-makers
- Analyze how policy communities maintain momentum for their causes
- Understand what makes advocacy efforts succeed or fail in global health
Pre-Session Reflection
What is a health policy NGO (or a global campaign by any government) that you view as particularly successful? (Consider: Lead Exposure Elimination Project, GAVI, PEPFAR, polio eradication campaign by WHO, Pure Earth, Food Fortification Initiative.) Why do you think it was so successful?
[Your response here]
Required Readings
- Shiffman J. "A social explanation for the rise and fall of global health issues" — Bulletin of WHO (2009)
- Explains why some health problems get attention while others causing equal or more deaths remain neglected. Key framework for understanding advocacy.
- Cairney P. & Kwiatkowski R. "How to communicate effectively with policymakers: combine insights from psychology and policy studies" (2017)
- Practical strategies for communicating with policymakers based on how they actually make decisions.
- "Big Enough. Simple Enough. Cheap Enough." — Stanford Social Innovation Review
- What makes health solutions politically attractive to decision-makers.
- "Advocacy to Improve Global Health: Strategies and Stories from the Field" — PATH (2014)
- Case studies showing advocacy in practice with concrete examples.
- "Policy Entrepreneurship" — Renaissance Philanthropy
- How to identify and work with policy champions.
Optional
- Barkhorn, I., Huttner, N., & Blau, J. "Assessing advocacy" — Stanford Social Innovation Review (2013)
- Framework for understanding different types of advocacy and how to evaluate success.
- Shiffman J, Smith S. "Generation of political priority for global health initiatives: a framework and case study of maternal mortality" — CGD Working Paper (2007)
- "Public health advocacy strategies to influence policy agendas: lessons from a narrative review of success in trade policy"
- "Helping NGOs and Funders Make the 'Big Shift' to Working With Government" — SSIR
(Optional) You can use the box below for taking notes about the readings.
[Your reading notes here]
Understanding Policy Communities & Framing
- Shiffman's relatively short 'Social Explanation' article primarily focuses on how policy communities construct and maintain attention on health problems, while Shiffman & Smith identifies specific issue characteristics that affect political priority.
- In their analysis of the safe motherhood initiative, Shiffman & Smith demonstrate how different factors can either enable or hinder political support. Looking at their analysis of safe motherhood: What lessons from this case could help other public health initiatives gain political support?
- Cairney & Kwiatkowski: Why is evidence alone insufficient to influence policy decisions? What specific strategies do they recommend for communicating with policymakers?
- According to Starr, what do governments actually care about when deciding whether to adopt and scale a health intervention? What makes something attractive to government decision-makers?
- According to the Policy Entrepreneurship reading, what are the essential elements of successful policy entrepreneurship? What specific things must a policy entrepreneur be able to do?
a) What makes some health issues (like HIV/AIDS) get more attention than others (like pneumonia)?
b) Why do some serious health problems still get neglected even when they cause many deaths?
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Stakeholder Analysis Exercise
Complete the stakeholder analysis table for one of the case studies outlined in Case Studies From PATH.
Stakeholder Analysis Table
Provide brief but specific examples from your chosen case study for each element.
(Name of Chosen Case Study): [Your chosen case study]
Stakeholder Element | Guiding Questions | Your Analysis |
Decision-makers' key interests | • Who were the main decision-makers in this case? What motivated them to act or prevented them from acting? | |
Opposition and obstacles | • What obstacles (structural, knowledge-based, or resource-based) existed? | |
Advocacy assets and | • What strengths and weaknesses did the advocacy group have? | |
Key partners and alliances | • Which organizations (including government entities) did they partner with? In what ways did partners increase the likelihood of success? |
Post-Meeting Reflection
What new insights about policy advocacy will you apply to your work?
[Your response here]
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