The world of policy and politics, governance and government can be murky with seemingly transparent and tangled connections. Who gets to define the agenda, what type of policy will come to the fore and who is accountable? This course sheds light on some of these concepts using the work of respected authors in the field. It allows learners to understand how a critical analytic and descriptive framework can help understand who is involved in the policy process, how it operates and ultimately leads to a discussion about who is accountable. The answers to these questions help lay a solid foundation for further exploration of policy analysis and formation in other courses.
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Social Protection and Social Security
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Interested in learning applicable skills in the field of social protection? Our course offering covers everything from health insurance and pension systems to policy implementation and monitoring. By partnering with the University of Maastricht, the German Pension Fund and AOK International Consulting, we are able to disseminate the knowledge of a range of experts. Participants can sign up for individual face-to-face and online courses, or complete our Certificate in Social Protection.
- Learning objectives
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By the end of the course students should be able to:
- Understand the distinction between policy and politics; government and governance
- Understand how the national political discourse affects policy making and decision making
- Understand the stages of the policy cycle and their interactions
- Be able to think critically about the actors in the policy making process in their own country and the influences and motivations they may have in the policy process
- Be able to distinguish between outputs and outcomes, monitoring and evaluation
- Understand the importance and relevance of the policy process and all stages of the policy cycle, thereby laying an important foundation for the next course on the techniques for monitoring and evaluation
- Overall, the student should be able to critically reflect on the literature provided and be able to distil this knowledge into their own country context.
- Prerequisites
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The course instructions and all readings are given in English. Fluency in English, both reading and writing, is essential, in both technical and common language.
- Teaching and assessment
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The course is offered as a self-paced e-learning course, providing flexibility to the students to enter and complete the modules at their convenience. The teaching materials consist of lectures and lecture-style slides with mandatory and recommended readings for further understanding. There are also case studies provided which will form the basis of the written assignment. At the end of each unit there is a self- assessed quiz to help the learner measure their understanding. Organizational questions may be directed to the IT administrator and course coordinator while technical questions can be directed to your tutor in the online learning environment. The course is designed to be 56 hours, including viewing the online lectures, reading the mandatory reading materials and participation in the online tutorials.
Participants’ learning will be assessed on:
- A written case study-based assignment
- Full completion of the modules and quizzes within the modules
- Active participation in technical discussions on the platform of the course