Content of the Roadmap

The content of the Roadmap also varies depending on the phase of the policy cycle that is being addressed and that the dialogue stakeholders are trying to influence. Without entering here into academic disputes on the exact number of phases –some scholars would include other phases or stages within one same phase– what seems worth keeping in mind is that every public policy has a life cycle, which can be conceptualized as a process comprised of the following stages:

Agenda setting phase

Raising awareness about a public problem and giving it enough priority so that it enters the public agenda.

Policy formulation

Different options are constructed, alternatives are studied and strategies to advance interests are defined and pursued.

Policy implementation and monitoring

The different ways in which activities are arranged to produce the effects foreseen in the policy.

Policy evaluation

Assessment of the effectiveness and impact of the policy and elaboration of recommendations for improvement or reversal.

Due to political factors and depending on the stability of the political context in which the targeted policy is embedded, these phases often overlap or are not even completed before another initiative is launched. Nonetheless, this depiction provides civil and political society representatives with a more or less clear idea of when their chances for inserting and advancing their interests are best.