Policy reform lessons learned: in developing countries ten years of environmentally related policy reform activities (executive summary)

This quick reference paper from USAID briefly lays out the policy reform fundamentals and key lessons learned from 66 case studies of environmental and natural resource-related projects and programmes. It is intended as a practical guide for individuals with operational responsibilities for policy reform.

The document reports that various public policies can impact environmental quality or natural resource use, although two types of policies typically have environmental ramifications. These are environmentally related policies and sector and macroeconomic policies, the latter of which can have positive or negative environmental impacts. The authors find that improving environmental outcomes will require careful attention to all development assistance activities, not just environmental policy, and that a important starting point is to agree on a common development framework.

The paper draws out 22 key ‘lessons learned’. The focus of the first nine lessons are on constructive and effective processes of coordination and facilitation. Lessons from these actions focus on:

• the roles of the participants in the policy process
• the importance of communication and dialogue for exchanging information and reaching agreement on the policy opportunities and how best to pursue those opportunities
• the sequencing and temporal dimensions of the process

Lessons 10 through 22 focus on the issues of problem diagnosis, policy design, policy implementation and ultimately policy evaluation. The lessons are:

• problem diagnosis depends on solid analytics and a credible analytical process
• help donor partners to support policy efforts
• account for a variety of factors when helping design policy
• analyse the incentive structures of policy instruments
• anticipate barriers to policy implementation
• be alert to policy implementation realities
• develop an implementation strategy
• identify financing sources for short and long-term implementation
• plan to build the capacity of the stakeholders
• delegate implementation responsibilities to local authorities
• evaluate policy performance
• tell a story- processes and results
• learn to track what is important.

This document is a comprehensive executive summary. The full Policy Reform Lessons Learned report is also available online.