Dr. Shahram Yazdani 1 Policy Support Function Dr. Shahram Yazdani Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences School of Medical Education Strategic Policy Sessions: 21

Characteristics of Sound Policymaking Forward looking: clearly defines outcomes and takes a long term view; Outward looking: takes account of external influencing factors, draws on experience in other countries, considers how the policy will be communicated to the public; Innovative, flexible and creative: questions established ways of doing things, encourages new and creative ideas, open to comments and ideas from others, manages risk; Evidence based: bases decisions on the best available evidence from a wide range of sources, throughout the process; Dr. Shahram Yazdani 2

Characteristics of Sound Policymaking Value oriented: looking for accomplishment of higher order goals and directions like constitutions and ideological manifest Inclusive: takes account of the impact on and meets the needs of all people affected by the policy; takes a holistic view and works across institutional boundaries; Evaluative: policies are evaluated to judge success, reviewed to ensure that they are tackling the problems they were intended to address and policy makers learn the lessons of past initiatives. Dr. Shahram Yazdani 3

Policy skills self-assessment Dr. Shahram Yazdani 4

Characteristics of Simple Situations 1. are clearly bounded and can be examined in isolation 2. are populated by a set of entities/ events 3. have information needs that are known 4. the roles and purposes of any people, groups or organisations are well known 5. are composed of differentiable problems that are either well known or probabilistically describable 6. have a form that is well known and which can change in predictable ways 7. will have known or probabilistic structural relationships across the set of identifiable parts and cause-effect relationships between events across time Dr. Shahram Yazdani 5

Characteristics of Complex Situations 1. exist in an environment, though the boundary that distinguishes it from the situation will be unclear or uncertain 2. are populated: by sets of entities/ events that may not be sensibly examinable in isolation of the Context by individuals, groups or organisations with roles and purposes that may not be well determined 3. have parts: that may themselves be situations or problems that may not be easily distinguishable from one another (a tangle) that if known may not be related the description and relationship of which may change with time 4. where the parts are seen as (dynamic) events across time, a simple cause-and- effect relationship between them cannot be identified 5. have a form: determined by the dynamic relationship between the parts that may in some way change in time that may not be easily discernible Dr. Shahram Yazdani 6

Putting the best available evidence at the heart of policy making? Evidence Informed Intuitional Practice of Political Life Experience Available Resources Lobby system ►Think- tank ►Opinion leaders ►Media ►Civil Society Rationality of Policy Process Sophistication of Policy Environment Evidence-influenced Opinion-based Evidence-based Evidence-influenced Expert Consultation Evidence Based

The “quality” challenge: How to match technical rigour and policy relevance? Technical rigour but no policy relevance Policy relevance but no technical rigour Evidence that is technically rigorous and policy relevant.

Evidence into practice: Increasing the uptake of evidence in policy making Data Providers Data Users (Policy Makers) Need to improve dialogue Improving “usability” (Relevance, time and simplicity) Reliable Data Incentives to use evidence Attitude to Policy Quality What ? Why? When? How? Effective access

Dr. Shahram Yazdani 10 Policy Makers Politicians Board Members Managers Institutional CEOs Program Managers Service Professionals Physicians Nurses Decision Makers Solutions Problems Researchers Mission Oriented In-house Employees Management Consultants Applied Research Institutes Insulated Academics Discovery Driven

Dr. Shahram Yazdani 11 Policy Makers Managers Service Professionals Decision Makers Solutions Problems Researchers Mission Oriented Discovery Driven Research Funders Applications Commercial R&D Grant Agencies Self-funding Discovery Issues and Priorities Service Delivery Problems Dx, Tx, Px Incentives Researchable Questions

Dr. Shahram Yazdani 12 Policy Makers Managers Service Professionals Decision Makers Solutions Problems Researchers Mission Oriented Discovery Driven Research Funders Applications Discovery Issues and Priorities Service Delivery Problems Dx, Tx, Px Incentives Researchable Questions Knowledge Purveyors Stories Public Relations Media Think Tank Conferences Journals Books Facts Ideas Best Practice Evidences Personal Experiences Anecdotes Interests Wants Values Myths Assumptions Interventions

Dr. Shahram Yazdani 13 Policy Makers Managers Service Professionals Decision Makers Problems Researchers Mission Oriented Discovery Driven Research Funders Applications Discovery Issues and Priorities Service Delivery Problems Dx, Tx, Px Incentives Researchable Questions Knowledge Purveyors Stories Public Relations Media Think Tank Conferences Journals Books Facts Ideas Best Practice Evidences Personal Experiences Anecdotes Interests Wants Values Myths Assumptions Interventions Solutions Knowledge Brokers Solutions

Dr. Shahram Yazdani 14 Policies Evidence EthicsPolitics Questionable Quality Irrelevant Ambiguous, LooseDeterministic Importance ! Role of Gifted and Talented: Knowledge Purveyor Knowledge Creator Knowledge Broker Ethical Analyst Political Bargainer Policymaker

Dr. Shahram Yazdani 15 Thank You ! Any Question ?