Free Policy Brief Template

A policy brief summarizes a particular societal or organizational issue that requires policy attention and recommendations on tackling the matter. It is typically used to influence the audience or decision-makers to act on a particular matter. Therefore, it can be a highly significant document in different contexts. Consequently, it is advisable to use a template when preparing the brief to ensure you accurately capture the structure and vital components.

Our policy brief template is a valuable tool for documenting and reporting an issue, proposed solution, or policy change that is supported by research. It ensures you capture the problem, its context and relevance, your argument(s), supporting information, and recommendations. Therefore, as an individual or organization intending to advocate for a particular change, such a guide is indispensable. 

Undoubtedly, policy briefs can vary within contexts. To address the probable variations, this template contains fundamental sections to ensure you capture the information needed to conjure a brief that influences the change you envision.

How to Fill This Template

While the template has been meticulously designed to guide you through the policy brief preparation process, here is a brief overview of how this document is used.

First, you need to provide the header of the document with the necessary items, including the logo, organization name, date of preparation, title, and preparer (author/institution).

Then, begin the policy brief as the template directs. Input an executive summary highlighting your objective (for example, policy change) and audience (government agency, legislator).

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In the introduction section, contextualize the problem by indicating its urgency and significance. Also, a problem statement that adequately defines the issue should be provided while providing recent developments or research. 

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Then, in the next section, you need to recommend evidence-based solutions to the identified problem. You should ensure the recommendations are actual action plans that specify what you want the recipient, public, or relevant stakeholders to undertake. You may have to do research and consultations to develop content for this section to avoid misinforming or misdirecting the audience. Also, the recommendations must be feasible and relevant to the problem identified above.

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Next, in the template, document the fundamentals of your study/research. These include results, conclusions, and recommendations. You can retrieve this information from your research report. You can highlight quantitative and qualitative data from your research using visual aids to support your claims further.

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As the template directs, you can identify different items you can add to enhance the credibility of your policy brief. These include an opinion piece, the limitations of your research, and how they may influence the proposed solutions you provided earlier. 

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Do not forget to acknowledge individuals and organizations who have assisted and funded the study by writing down their names. Acknowledgments show your affiliation with recognized individuals or organizations and can considerably increase the success of your propositions.

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You also need to enlist references you have used to source information that readers can review to gain further insights and validate claims you have included in earlier template sections. Including references in your policy brief increases its credibility. With increased credibility, you can expect more successful outcomes in addressing the issue at hand. 

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This template has a disclaimer blank that you must not forget to fill in. Here, you need to let each reader know any viewpoints or opinions expressed in the final document are yours and not of the organization you are affiliated with or that has funded your research. 

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This template is in Google Docs, Word Template (.DOTX), and OpenDocument Text (.ODT) file formats. These two formats are used to make it easier for you to edit the document as you input details. The Google Docs format, however, allows remote access through cloud storage and enables you to collaborate with team members if the situation necessitates this.

Useful Information Worth Knowing

While filling out the policy brief template, you can use visual elements such as charts and graphics where applicable to present data. For example, under section 4: Study results, conclusions, and recommendations, for a policy brief about poor industrial sewage disposal in a city, you can use graphs to show the trend in toxins in the water, percentage of related diseases, etc.

The template is comprehensive as is, and if you follow the clear, precise in-text instructions given, you can produce a high-quality policy brief.

Additionally, you must keep the audience in mind as you fill out the template. Understand the audience and make the policy brief relevant to them. For example, if you want to address the issue of littering in your city, the policy brief would have a higher chance of success if addressed to the mayor than the district attorney.

The policy brief should be concise. However, you need to provide enough information to achieve two things – authenticate your concerns and offer the reader sufficient background details to make informed decisions.

Also, be precise and refer to existing policies or programs and recommend amendments or additions that need to be made to address your concerns. This allows you to focus on the solution rather than the problem.