If China has surged to world domination through peerless strategic policy, can others copy its planning and delivery power?

Service Category: Systems & Strategy

Client Type: International Development Partner

Service: Our client requested a Strategic Needs Assessment of a government’s central policy analysis unit. We had to do multi-country comparative case studies and deliver conclusions on the unit’s mandate, functions, and operational effectiveness. Was the unit fit for purpose?

What we did:

·      We conducted desk-based and stakeholder-driven assessments of the unit’s usefulness.
·      We reached out to similar units in comparable contexts and benchmarked the quality of its structure, responsibilities, accountabilities and value-added to national competitiveness.
·      We developed a register of other key national and international policy think tanks, providing an oversight of the international eco-system and its linkages.

Foresight Created: We concluded:
·      That the policy unit was not meeting the needs of its stakeholders.
·      Systems were needed for regular communication of the needs of stakeholders to the unit.
·      Investments were required to ensure the unit had the right people to deliver on the ambitions of its mandate. If non-nationals had to part of the staff mix, so be it!
·      Policy research and development needed to be separated from policy monitoring and evaluation to avoid functional conflicts.
·      The unit must be held regularly accountable for the quality, relevance and impact of its work on national decision-making.
·      Policy and law makers must be held accountable for their use or misuse of the outputs of the policy unit.
·      There should be regular reviews to improve the value of the unit to national decision-making. China can be replicated!