Description

This training manual seeks to support the African Science Granting Councils (SGCs) and other stakeholders in science, technology and innovation (STI) in building their capacity to understand and apply the approaches, tools and strategies for influencing policy change. It highlights and emphasizes (i) the key concepts and principles of policymaking – including evidence, conflicts, processes and terminologies (ii) instruments and tools of influence (iii) strategies for designing and writing effective policy briefs and (iv) the big debates surrounding policy influencing such as the role of the media, gender, politics and advocacy. The training manual is meant to be both a curriculum and facilitator’s guide and has been developed to support the cascading of this training by SGCs and other actors at the country level. The design, presentation, and content are intended to support customized, self-use by facilitators. They are also geared toward supporting African SGCs in developing the capacity of African professionals / practitioners / researchers to understand and apply various tools in influencing policy change, particularly policy briefs. The expected outcome is the enhanced quality of policy advice and influencing policy change.