Understanding Public Policy (1)

I was reading on "Public Policy" a few days back and i thought i should share with us some of what i learnt, especially as there is the lingering case of public policy ineffectiveness in many developing countries of the world today. So lets understand what public policy is. 

A Policy is  a deliberate system of principles to guide decisions and achieve rational outcome. 

Public Policy concerns areas that are designated as public as opposed to areas considered as private.

Features Of Public Policy
1. The Policy is made in the public's name.
2. It is generally made or initiated by the Government.
3. Policy interpretation and implementation  is done by public and private sectors.
4. Public Policy is what a government intends to do.
5. It is what the government chooses not to do.

Policy Cycle
Here we look at the different stages of Policy making.

1.  Agenda Setting/problem identification.

2. Policy formulation

3. Decision Making

4. Implementation

5. Evaluation

Steps in Policy Formulation
1. Identify and define the content or issue that necessitated the development of a policy.

2. Appoint persons to coordinate the policy process.

3. Establish a policy development process

4. Conduct research

5. Prepare the discussion paper

6. Consultation Stage

7. Prepare a draft Policy

8. Second consultation stage

9. Communication

10. Review and Evaluation

Note that majority of public policies in Nigeria lack the Communication and Evaluation stages leading to massive failure of projects in Nigeria.