Effective Implementation In Practice: Integrating Public Policy and Management

Appendix A

Policy Field Audit

Public policy and program implementation is complex in part because it involves so many diverse institutions. Sometimes the relationships between these institutions are formalized with government tools such as grants and contracts. Other times, they are informal, based on affiliation or history. A policy field audit can help make sense of these institutional realities.

Policy fields are bounded networks among organizations carrying out a substantive policy and program area in a particular place.¹ Therefore, a policy field analysis begins by identifying a substantive policy or program area of interest. For many professionals, their organization's mission or role helps define this substantive topic area. It might ...