• Prioritise which stakeholders are most crucial to involve in different ways so that they facilitate or at least do not hinder the efforts to achieve the in- tended policy goal.
• Further refine the policy goal should additional forces for and against change be detected when exploring interests and resources of stakeholders. • Begin to understand the relationships between the
different actors in order to devise strategies and ac- tivities that build upon those connections.
• Identification of needs can help the network refine arguments and contents of its value proposal.
PolIcy goal: to Promote buDget allocatIon to hIv PreventIon traInIngs for young PeoPle
level staKeholDer Interest/neeD resources PoWer
global International
organisations UNICEF
UNAIDS
National governments’ engagement the rights of every child are realized Convince governments to implement global AIDS responses for HIV prevention
CSO engagement in monitoring policies
Budget (cosponsors) Reputation and public recog- nition
Links with CSOs and policy- makers at the national level Knowledge
Access to policymakers
High
Regional African network of researchers involved in HIV prevention
Promote the use of evidence in policies for HIV prevention
Knowledge about HIV preven- tion strategies in the region Capacity to convene African policymakers
Credibility
Asian advocacy network focused on promoting on children rights
Ensure fulfillment of chil- dren rights
Visibility of the HIV-AIDS threat for youth
Alliances with a wide array of local CSOs
Reputation
Access to most important national media
Medium
Local Executive Power Gain more votes among
youth population
Budget initiative? High Parliament Gain more votes among
youth population
Officially in charge of budget approval, but with low actual role
Medium
National Ministry of Health
Increase budget Prevent wide HIV dissemination
Local knowledge
Staff specialised in delivering courses on the topic
Good access to Executive Power High National Ministry of Education Increase budget Implement youth targeted policies Local knowledge Access to schools
Relative access to Executive Power
Medium
CSOs fighting against
HIV-AIDS Strengthen prevention activities Influence local policy- makers
Access to community based or- ganizations, schools and health care centers
Low
CSOs promoting young
people’s rights Strengthen promotion of youth rights Influence local policy- makers
Access to national media Credibility
Low
4. What are we proposing?
The proposal
The stakeholder and problem tree analysis serve as a platform to discuss and devise what needs to be done in order to achieve the intended policy impact. However, there are many answers regarding which strategies and actions Related challenges: Coordinating and gluing mem-
bers/ Accessing governments/ Generating credible research and evidence/ Communicating effectively/ Developing direct capacity of influence
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are more appropriate: members may coincide in the ends, but not in the means for those ends. A precise and detailed proposal that links means and ends will help the network gain a better insight of how it will contribute to the policy- making process. A proposal can be a proposition, a recom- mendation or a specific initiative that can be implemented to contribute to solving a specific problem or ameliorating negative consequences of a problem.
The proposal will also enable the network to build more legitimacy for its participation in the policymaking processes both among its members as well as well as among external stakeholders. Therefore, the network needs to work on a spe- cific value proposal that: 1) responds to the selected problem or one of its main causes or consequences; 2) provides con- tent to the specific policy goal that has been established; 3) builds on interests and degree of power of main stakeholders that should be somehow engaged in the influence process.
Even though building consensus about a specific propos- al can become a long and sometimes even tiresome process, a network can benefit enormously from new perspectives that are brought to negotiating tables by a range of other actors. In other words, intangible attributes are important to the coherence and effectiveness of networks:
• Serendipity and creativity • Solidarity and socialization • Political weight and relevance
• Laboratories for citizenship and democratic practices The formulation of a good proposal is of vital impor- tance for the planning of the influence process. Therefore, the network should invest some considerable time in devis- ing a proposal on which it can sustain its interventions. Leadership appears as a key factor in this exercise; members with consensus building and facilitating skills will probably be the most suitable to play a leading role.
One useful way to build the proposal is to first conduct a brainstorming session around the selected problem or as- pects of a problem and propose potential solutions to it. This can be done by circulating the Problem Tree Analysis and asking members of the network to attach their own
proposed solutions that would help achieve the policy goal. It is here important to request members to clearly build a link between proposed solutions and the evidence gathered from research to back up the proposal. This should also help the network detect whether there is still more research or data or evidence needed to build a solid proposal.