Policy Briefs are detailed & informatory documents or you can also say they are one kind of advocatory documents. The term Policy Brief itself means “evidence brief for policies”. These briefs are mainly a two-page document where the policies of a particular issue are described or addressed clearly.
There are different kinds of policy brief templates available but what is interesting is that the language which is used in all these policy briefs will be clear, simple, easy to understand, and also accessible to non-specialized audiences.
Policy Brief Templates Download
1. Education and Training Policy Brief Template
The above is an example of the Education and Training Policy Brief where all the details about the education and training are mentioned in detail.
These policies are mainly useful for educational institutes and for students who wish to know everything about their education policies. These are some of the important policies which are highly searched all across the globe.
2. Policy on How to Develop a Policy Brief Template
Although the name sounds simple yet this is one of the most important policy briefs. To prepare any kind of policy brief, it is important to know how to make the policy and what details need to be there for the policy to be approved and accepted.
3. Local Audit and Accountability Bill Policy Brief Template
This format is of a Local Audit and Accountability Bill Policy Brief. These kinds of formats are very useful for Audit commissions.
People who do regular audits need to know about the policies while conducting the audits. These policies are also very useful for taxpayers, people in Finance, People and Organisational Development, and also for Strategy, Localism, and Communications.
4. Mentoring and Widening higher Education Policy Brief Template
Unlike the first policy brief, this one is different as this one focuses mainly on the mentoring and widening of Higher Education. You will be surprised to know the number of policies that exist for Educational institutes.
The Government has ensured that all the departments and all the issues have different policy briefs for them hence as per your problems and concerns you can seek help from the respective policy brief.
5. Bank Growth and Employment Policy Brief Template
Every bank needs to have a policy brief that talks about their banking processes, rules, compliances, employees, the employee’s growth, and their employment.
This is also a very important policy brief that helps in streamlining the bank’s work culture. A lot of policies may differ from bank to bank depending on the countries they are in however the basic guidelines will remain the same.
6. Locally Owned Climate Change Policy Brief Template
As our climate goes through numerous changes, it is important to have a strict policy brief where everything regarding climate change is mentioned. The changing climates bring major risks to the people which means there has to be a strict policy that needs to be followed to avoid any unwanted situations and risks.
This is where the climate policy comes into the picture and plays a very important role to ensure every employee of the Climate department is on the same page. This policy is generally used for UN members.
7. Children Transportation Policy Brief Template
These policies are used while dealing with a specific group of people such as the CASA Children that get transported every year and there are volunteers who help in doing so. In such policies, a volunteer can transport a child only if he or she adheres to the policy rules clearly.
This kind of format can also be used in different places where similar situations arise.
Such policies that deal with children help in regulating the movement of children and is reducing the chances of child trafficking cases.
8. Tackling Climate Change Policy Brief Template
The world is facing global warming challenges and in such situations, there must be some policies set which are on a global level and used for urgent situations. While locally in every country the climate is handled by the countrymen but when it comes to global decision making the entire nation comes together as a team.
This Environment-related policy brief is similar to the one mentioned above but can be customized for any organization following environmental processes. It is not specific to the UN commissions or any other government agency.
9. Open Educational Resources Policy Brief Template
The Open Educational Policy Briefs are mainly concerned with the education planners in government and institutions.
In such policies things like the educational resources, their cost, the quality of resources, etc are discussed. This is again one of the most important policies in the educational sectors as they brief you about the resources and their quality.
10. Women with Disabilities Policy Brief Template
This policy is a must-have policy in every state and country. It focuses on Women with disabilities and their economic security. Women in every country get some special privileges from the Government and especially if a woman is disabled some specific policies come into the picture.
11. National Infrastructure Assessment Policy Brief Template
These Policy Briefs look very colorful and almost like a magazine page. They are used for infrastructure assessment and are very crisp and clear with their set rules. These formats are usually helpful for people who work in the Infrastructure or Architecture department. Governments, real estate developers, etc often use such policy documents.
12. Hospital and Illness Policy Brief Template
These formats are used by Hospitals, for various kinds of illnesses, and patients too. While providing treatment for any illness it’s important that the doctors follow some set protocols and this is where this brief comes into the picture. In the medical world, health and hospital briefs are extremely important and these are some of the most complicated documents to work on.
13. Water and Sanitization Policy Brief Template
The importance of water is known by all and to ensure that water is not being wasted and is being used for drinking, sanitization, and cleaning, and various other uses it’s important that a policy brief is in place. Any individual who wishes to know more about the policies laid down by the government to save water can go through such policy briefs.
14. Land Rights Policy Brief Template
The land is a prized commodity now and as the population grows, the green cover is under constant threat. This is where the land policy briefs come in to picture. Every community and every individual must understand the policies that are laid down by the government to save the plants and trees, especially in the protected areas.
Frequently Asked Questions
Policy brief documents can be daunting to work on and you might have questions along the way. Here are some commonly asked questions with their responses.
1. How can I go about writing a policy brief template?
That’s a really long answer but we can help you with the most important points to consider while drafting a policy brief template. Here are some of them
- Research the topic as much as you can
- Understand the target audience of your policy brief and develop the content accordingly
- Underline the reasons why the policy brief is being created
- Keep the language as succinct and as easy to understand as possible
2. What are some of the must include sections of a policy brief document?
A policy brief can be as simple as drafting a leave policy and as complicated as a government policy. But some of the most commonly used sections are
- Title of the document
- Summary
- The reason for the policy/purpose
- Alternatives
- Stakeholders
- Impact of the policy
- Data Source
3. Is there an ideal word count for a policy brief?
Well not really as it depends on what the policy brief is about. Complicated policy brief documents can range into several hundred pages too! But ideally, you should stick to a word limit of around 2,000.
4. What is one of the most essential factors while writing such a document?
The problem and its solution are the core to creating an effective and implementable policy brief document.
Conclusion
Writing these policy brief documents requires serious skillsets as it is a very tough and important task. Preparing a good document requires tons of research and ensuring that all data points are factually correct. If you are presenting the document to the stakeholders then even the formatting of the document makes a lot of difference.
Plan out your policy brief document well in advance with differentiated sections, notes, recommendations, and the overall outcome the document is supposed to bring out. And to make your policy brief document more reliable, include all your data sources at the end or on each page containing the data.