Semarang, April 29, 2023. Written by Retno Sunu Astuti
The dynamics occur in the policy area often lead various conflicts of values such as efficiency, equity, participation, democracy and social justice. values context that grow and develop in society gives some clues about how the community responds to the policy that is implemented. Therefore, the success of implementation of a policy in a region is not always successfully implemented in another region since they have different cultural context, because local culture influences the character of local institutions, patterns of power, and dynamics between local actors. In the context of these values, the role of a policy analyst is needed to produce policies that are able to find the needs of democratic citizens.
The function of the policy analyst is not only to propose solutions to the crises that arise in some moment but also able to anticipate and never fail to be an intellectual resource in predicting the future. Policy analyst is a radar that gives guidance to the public’s journey, so it must work proactively, so that in carrying out their duties must be rational, client advice, argumentative, interactive, participative and able to control the process towards the direction and results that are correlated to the public interest.
The skills are needed to support the competence of policy analysts include:
1) policy analyst methodology, means that a policy analyst must be able to implement the policy process in a country can be different from another countries, meaning that different political and government systems will produce different patterns of public policy making;
2) the ability in analyzing and presenting data, means that a policy analyst must understand how to search a data, analying the data, and presenting ithe data systematically and use it as a material for formulating public policy
3) Techniques of writing, means that a policy analyst must be able to write systematically, argumentative and based on data. There are two main products produced by a policy analyst, they are policy paper and policy brief;
4) Techniques of presentation, means that a policy analyst must be able to present ideas comprhensively to different audiences ;
5) policy advocacy techniques, means a policy analyst must be able to do : a. legislation in the form of counter draft, judicial review and legislation, b.negotiation, mediation and collaboration, c. campaigns, rallies, protests, demonstrations, boycotts and political education;
6) Relations techniques, means that the effectiveness of policy advocacy requires a mobilization of various stakeholders to pressure policy makers. An analyst cannot work alone, so they must be able to build relation with experts who are appropriate to the issue recommended;
7) understanding the substance of the policy, means that a policy analyst must understand the substance of the problem and recommend the policy proposed;
8) techniques of arrangjng Policy strategy, means a policy analyst must understand how a policy should be implemented effectively instead of only stuck at the receipt of a policy proposal by policy makers in the form of policy ratification.
A number of policy analyst competencies above are in line with the goals of the Public Administration Education program, which is to produce graduates who have the ability to find, understand, explain and formulate ways to solve public problems through inter, multi or transdisciplinary approaches. This goal means that graduates of Public Administration must be able to produce policy recommendations that are oriented to the public interest through various approaches that are appropriate to the context of society because public policy does not run in a vacuum. In other words, policy analyst competence is needed by public administration graduates in carrying out their duties both in the private and public sectors. (Retno S Astuti_The Head of Doctoral of Public Administration Program, Faculty Of Social And Political Sciences Universiitas Diponegiro )
References:
~ Bardach,Eugene and Patashnik,Eric M, 2016, A Practical Guide For Policy Analysis The Eightfold Path To More Effective Problem Solving, SAGE Publication,Washington DC
~ Lembaga Administrasi Negara, 2017, Modul Pelatihan Khusus Analis Kebijakan, Pusat Pembinaan Analis Kebijakan-LAN, Jakarta
~ Purwanto, Erwan Agus dkk,2015, Mengembangkan Profesi Analis Kebijakan, Gadjah Mada University Press, Yogyakarta
~ Radin,Beryl A, 2020, Defining Policy Analysis : A Journey That Never Ends, Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom
~ Rahardian, Ramaditya, 2020, Memahami Advokasi Kebijakan : Konsep,Teori, dan Praktik Dalam Mewujudkan Kebijakan Yang Berpihak Pada Publik,DEEPUBLISH,Yogyakarta