Public Management

Public Policy Assignment(PADM52450) - Unit 4 & 5: Setting the agenda and policyappraisal

The formal assessment of the module will be on a continuous basis, and has been designed to give you an ongoing and steady feedback on your grasp of the module. You will be given feedback on the submission before you submit the next submission.

The learning outcomes that are assessed in the assignments are progressive and you should consider the learning outcomes of earlier units as you engage with later ones. The assignments do not test for a particular learning outcome, but rather the broad understanding of the course content and your ability to display competence in the content.

Each assessment is paired with a grading rubric which you can use to determine how your performance will be assessed. The rubrics are downloadable, which will allow you to refer to them while offline.

Instructions for Unit 4 & 5 Individual Assignment:

Context

South Africa is facing the stark consequences of structural unemployment. It is generally accepted that this situation is untenable and may be a consequence of poor public policy. In crafting a way forward, government needs to combine the technical features of a workable policy while securing both the ideas and the buy-in from a variety of stakeholders.

Assignment question

You are tasked with designing a strategy for the Presidency to reach a point where a viable social compact can be achieved to address the unemployment question.

This strategy should indicate:

• The factors driving the setting of the agenda, including the role of stakeholders and externalfactors
• The key stakeholders and their likely interests
• The social engagement process most likely to succeed
• The technical questions that must be assessed and how these will be evaluated and drawn into the social compacting process
• Key risks to the process and how these should be mitigated

Guidance

You are not expected to be experts in the specific nature of the policy proposed and will not be assessed on this aspect.

You will however be assessed on the extent to which you understand how the policy appraisal process may be utilised to positively manage and engage with stakeholders central to the social acceptance of a major new programme.

In doing this you should attempt to demonstrate a critical understanding of the role of stakeholders in the policy process and the importance of technical policy appraisals.

You should also demonstrate an understanding of the complex nature of technical appraisals and the agenda-setting context within which they must be performed.

Overall, it is important that you draw on the module material in formulating your response. While this is a practical exercise dealing with the real-life policy process, it is important that you make use of the module material to inform your approach.

Submission length: maximum 2 500 words and assignment should be based onthe below module materials - links are below.

Birkland, T. A. (1998). Focusing Events, Mobilization, and Agenda Setting. Journal of Public Policy, 18(1), 53-74

Cloete, F., & Meyer, I. H. (2011). Policy agenda setting. In F. C. C. d. Coning (Ed.),Improving public policy : theory, practice and results(pp. 105-124). Pretoria: Van Schaik Publishers.

Howlett, M., Tan, S. L., Migone, A., Wellstead, A., & Evans, B. (2014). The distribution of analytical techniques in policy advisory systems: Policy formulation and the tools of policy appraisal. Public Policy and Administration, 29(4), 271-291. doi:10.1177/095207671452481

Katrak, P., Bialocerkowski, A. E., Massy-Westropp, N., Kumar, V. S., & Grimmer, K. A. (2004). A systematic review of the content of critical appraisal tools. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 4(1), 22. doi:10.1186/1471-2288-4-22