Roadmap role in policy cycles

In this respect, shifts between different stages of the policy cycle can be seen as specific entry points for multi-stakeholder dialogue and each entry point implies a different logic of intervention, as outlined below:

Deliberation.

If a public problem is recognised as such and has entered the political agenda, the dialogue should focus on determining the objectives of the related policy and analysing alternative options for policy design. • Policy adoption. Once there are several policy alternatives under discussion in the political arena, the final choice can be influenced through ‘outside track’ advocacy or by collaborating in coalitions of stakeholders – including policy makers - with a common interest in a given alternative.

Monitoring

During the implementation phase, stakeholders can assess the efficiency (connection between inputs and outputs) and effectiveness (link between the outcomes and the final impact on the beneficiaries) of the policy.

Advocacy

Based on the evaluation of the policy’s implementation, stakeholders can push for related problems to be included on the political agenda, which can lead to the launching of a whole new policy cycle or the introduction of corrective measures targeting the initial policy.

Entry points can pre-determine to a large extent the kind of effects that the whole dialogue process can produce and the sort of influence that the Roadmaps may play or, in other words, the level of detail and type of measures and recommendations included. Moreover, it should now be clear that a Roadmap can serve as an entry point to a phase of the policy cycle too.

To give an example, INSPIRED Tunisia aimed at setting the basic principles of social justice (agenda setting) and the consensus reached in the course of the dialogue took the form of a social pact between the main political and social actors in the country. On a different stage, INSPIRED Kyrgyzstan developed an Action Plan for the Transition to Digital Broadcasting, assigning duties, tasks and responsibilities to the stakeholders (formulation phase). Such a level of detail achieved in INSPIRED Kyrgyzstan corresponds to the specificities of a policy reform process which is more advanced and therefore focused more on concrete questions related to the digitalisation of radio and TV programmes.