Welcome Failure of Policy Implementation - a Proposal Worth Trialling

Failure of Policy Implementation -
            Welcome
a Proposal Worth Trialling

Intergenerational Wellbeing

                          Sustainability

 Social
                                                               Resilience
Cohesion

                    Natural Capital          Human Capital

                Social & Cultural Capital
                                                         Potential
                                            Economic Capital

   Equity                                            Economic Growth

Context

Failure of public-policy implementation, in a
world dominated by:
 complex adaptive systems
 fundamental uncertainty …

… exacerbated by a political system and a
bureaucracy that insist on using a Principal-
Agent model in designing and implementing
public policy.

Tell Two Stories

• Data will solve everything.

• Nothing is working.

Social Investments Insights

Proposal
Since the focus of today is about trialling things towards
improving human lives, the proposal is to switch to:
     collaborative policy design
     adaptive implementation
 … involving communities around the country in all phases
 of the policy process:
     problem/opportunity definition
     policy design
     decisions on what to trial
     trial design
     trial evaluation
     reconsideration of policy design and implementation

Literature

• Ansell, Christopher; Sørensen, Eva; Torfing, Jacob (2017).
  “Improving policy implementation through collaborative policy
  making,” Policy & Politics; vol 45, no 3; pp. 467–86.

• Eppel, Elizabeth; Provoost, Donna; Karacaoglu, Girol (2018).
  “From complexity to collaboration,” IGPS Working Paper; no
  18/01.

Applying private sector processes –
          Eric Ries’ Lean Start-up methodology

•   develop a minimum viable product
•   proof of concept
•   Testing
•   Experiment
•   Fast fail
•   Commercialize
•   Scale
•   Partner

Principles: speed, least cost, optimum chance of success, and at
the heart of it all is the customer – finding out what they need
and want and will respond to.

Source: Ansell, Sørensen, Torfing (2017), p. 474.

Proposals
•   Policy execution problems require joint consideration of both policy design and
    policy implementation.

•   The strict separation of policy design and policy execution must be relaxed in both
    theory and practice.

•   Policy designs can be improved through collaboration and deliberation between
    upstream and downstream actors, including the potential service users and other
    non-governmental actors; this will blur the lines allegedly separating politics and
    administration.

•   Collaboration is a source of creativity and innovation, as well as effective and
    enduring impact.

•   Policy design must be conceived of as an on-going process that flexibly adapts as
    implementation challenges unfold.

•   The obstacles to elected politicians’ participation in collaborative policymaking are
    real, but can be overcome.

•   The potential benefits of collaborative policymaking for improving policy execution
    warrants a closer examination of the scope conditions of policymaking that allow us
    to appreciate where, when and how collaborative policymaking is possible.

Pre-conditions

• Political and institutional conditions:
   – Consensual (e.g. proportional representation) vs majoritarian
     democracies
   – Corporatist vs clientelist systems
   – Whether local and regional level government has considerable political
     autonomy and administrative capacity

• Policy content and situational variables:
   – Salient and urgent policy issues
   – National security and crisis management
   – High degree of ideological polarisation

• Collaboration facilitating environment (e.g. forums for
  knowledge sharing, sustained dialogue and mutual learning)

Source: Eppel, Provoost, Karacaoglu (2018), p. 10.

Examples

• Ōpōtiki was once considered one of New Zealand’s most deprived
  communities. Over 2 decades of shared local vision and using community
  strengths and assets, many people and sectors have worked together, they
  are rebuilding a vibrant local community and improving their wellbeing.
  http://inspiringcommunities.org.nz/op otiki-using-their-taonga-to-
  harboura-dream/

• One example of the many TSI activities is the Early Years Challenge. This
  initiative is a joint project between TSI, Auckland Council and the Auckland
  Co-Design Lab, exploring how to improve outcomes for young children,
  families and whānau in South Auckland. Taking a whānau centric approach
  to co-design means they understand the lived realities of parenting and
  puts their participation at the heart of the work. This is empowering
  families and whānau to create innovative ideas that build on local
  strengths. This and other case studies are available at:
  https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.n z/plans-projects-policies-
  reportsbylaws/our-plans-strategies/placebased-
  plans/Pages/southerninitiative.aspx