Policy Impact Assessments (IAs) are formal, evidence-based procedures that assess the economic, social, and environmental effects of
public policy
Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs. Public ...
. They have been incorporated into policy making in the
OECD
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate ...
countries and the
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...
.
Key types of impact assessments include global assessments (global level), policy impact assessment (policy level), strategic environmental assessment (programme and plan level), and
environmental impact assessment
Environmental Impact assessment (EIA) is the assessment of the environmental consequences of a plan, policy, program, or actual projects prior to the decision to move forward with the proposed action. In this context, the term "environmental imp ...
(project level). Impact assessments can focus on specific themes, such as
social impact assessments and gender impact assessments.
IAs can improve legislation by:
* Informing policy makers about potential economic, social, and environmental ramifications
* Improving transparency so that contributions to sustainability and "better regulation" are disclosed and
special interest lobbying
In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, whic ...
is discouraged
* Increasing public participation in order to reflect a range of considerations, thereby improving the legitimacy of policies
* Clarifying how public policy helps achieve its goals and priorities through policy indicators
* Contributing to continuous learning in policy development by identifying causalities that inform ex-post review of policies
Procedure
The department which is responsible for the policy proposal usually has to carry out the IA. Although the purpose and orientation of IA procedures differ, IA guidelines in the various jurisdictions all follow a similar set of steps to be followed by desk officers:
# Planning of the IA
# Carrying out the impact analysis
# Consultation of affected stakeholders and the general public
# Coordination with affected departments
# Summary and presentation of findings in a report
# Forwarding findings to decision makers
# Publication of the IA report (not in all countries)
The analytical steps, which mainly relate to step 2, can be set out as
i. Problem definition
ii. Definition of policy objectives
iii. Development of policy options
iv. Analysis of impacts
v. Comparison of policy options and recommendation of one option
vi. Defining monitoring measures.
Methods
Throughout the IA process, methods can be used for support. In recent years governments have increasingly invested in developing and applying methods and tools for IA.
Depending on usage, IA methods can be classified as methods for
* Scoping (e.g., checklists)
* For qualitative analysis (e.g.,
focus groups
A focus group is a group interview involving a small number of demographically similar people or participants who have other common traits/experiences. Their reactions to specific researcher/evaluator-posed questions are studied. Focus groups are ...
)
* For quantitative analysis (e.g.,
life-cycle assessment
Life cycle assessment or LCA (also known as life cycle analysis) is a methodology for assessing environmental impacts associated with all the stages of the life cycle of a commercial product, process, or service. For instance, in the case ...
,
material flow accounting Material flow accounting (MFA) is the study of material flows on a national or regional scale. It is therefore sometimes also referred to as regional, national or economy-wide material flow analysis.
Introduction
Material flow accounting provides e ...
, modelling)
* Aggregation and comparison of options (e.g.,
cost–benefit analysis
Cost–benefit analysis (CBA), sometimes also called benefit–cost analysis, is a systematic approach to estimating the strengths and weaknesses of alternatives. It is used to determine options which provide the best approach to achieving benefits ...
)
* Analysing coherence (e.g., Gender IA)
* Supporting participation and involvement (e.g., internet consultation)
* Data presentation and involvement (e.g.,
GIS)
*
Monitoring and evaluation (e.g., indicators)
See also
*
Impact evaluation
Impact evaluation assesses the changes that can be attributed to a particular intervention, such as a project, program or policy, both the intended ones, as well as ideally the unintended ones. In contrast to outcome monitoring, which examines whe ...
*
Outcomes theory
Outcomes theory provides the conceptual basis for thinking about, and working with outcomes systems of any type. An outcomes system is any system that: identifies; prioritizes; measures; attributes; or hold parties to account for outcomes of any ty ...
*
Participatory impact pathways analysis
Participatory impact pathways analysis (PIPA) is a project management approach in which the participants in a project (project and program are used synonymously from now on), including project staff, key stakeholders, and the ultimate beneficiaries ...
*
Policy analysis
Policy analysis is a technique used in the public administration sub-field of political science to enable civil servants, nonprofit organizations, and others to examine and evaluate the available options to implement the goals of laws and elected ...
*
Policy studies
Policy studies is a subdisicipline of political science that includes the analysis of the process of policymaking (the policy process) and the contents of policy (policy analysis). Policy analysis includes substantive area research (such as health ...
*
Program evaluation
Program evaluation is a systematic method for collecting, analyzing, and using information to answer questions about projects, policies and programs, particularly about their effectiveness and efficiency. In both the public and private sectors, s ...
References
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External links
International Association for Impact Assessment(main source)
Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal(a journal)
IAIA Wiki
Philosophy of science
Educational evaluation methods