Saturday, 3 December 2016

Learning Policy Advice

17 - 18 November 2016

Versione stampabile

How to write a briefing note for the EU High Representative participating in a high-level meeting? What to put in a speech to be given by the EU Commissioner for Migration and Home Affairs before the European Parliament? These are some of the questions that challenged attendees of the two-day intensive course “Learning Policy Advice”, taught by Dr. Giulio Venneri, policy officer at the Enlargement Directorate of the European Commission. 

Insights on methodology of policy writing and political reporting were thorough and to the point, but the simulation exercises were definitely the most stimulating part of the course. Students were confronted with highly sensitive issues and a considerable amount of documents, and asked to deliver briefing notes, press releases, speeches, or tweets under tight time constraints. 
A mission impossible, apparently, considering that hardly any of the participants had policy writing experience. Personally speaking, being a lawyer, I had no idea where to start from. 

Dr. Venneri was, however, very supportive and encouraged us to make the most of our common sense in order to approach such new tasks. Clearly, common sense is not enough in itself: but Dr. Venneri gave us the right instruments to tackle the main issues, and writing a policy brief came surprisingly naturally. Room for improvement certainly exists, and continuous training is essential in this area. Nonetheless, Dr. Venneri’s course has been an exciting first step, and given us a taste of what policy writing means in practice.

This course will be useful not only for those of us who would like to work as policy officers at the EU or other international institutions in the future. Indeed, policy writing skills are in high demand and increasingly tested during job interviews for any organisation – from NGOs to research institutes. You better be ready!

 Chiara Tea Antoniazzi
 PhD candidate in International Studies