R2A is set to launch a policy brief extravaganza between October the 27th-31st, 2014. Over the course of the week the R2A team will be showcasing new guidance, commentary and an animation that brings into focus the value of the policy brief, while also seeking to help you understand more clearly what an effective policy brief looks like.

The policy briefs sometimes gets bad press, but evidence shows that policy actors do read policy briefs – even in this digital age. Here at R2A we feel that the policy brief deserves more respect. However, in order to achieve this authors of policy briefs must look for ways of consistently tackling three key issues:

1. Policy briefs are not always written well and in an engaging style
2. Policy briefs do not consistently offer evidence-based and actionable recommendations that meet policy actors needs
3. Researchers and knowledge brokers are not always prepared to engage with policy actors to share their policy briefs effectively.

Policy briefs can’t change the world on their own, but they can play a massively important role in presenting evidence in a digestible format and setting out clearly what the evidence shows we should do when faced with a particular challenge. It’s time to celebrate the policy brief and to look for new ways of overcoming some of these barriers.

We hope you can join us on R2A for “Policy Brief Week, 2014” and be a part of the conversation and the fun! Here are some of the content and activities you should be looking out for over the course of the week:

• A new extensive guide on writing and engaging policy actors through your policy brief
• A new animation that offers some step by step basic guidance on crafting messages as part of your policy brief
• A series of blogs that explore some of the barriers outlined above, along with other issues such as alternative policy briefs for a digital age.
• Twitter games – we will be having some fun on twitter this week by encouraging people to get involved in our #r2aconundrums twitter competition.
• A showcase of resources and guidance

Stay tuned on twitter via the hashtag #pbweek14 and don’t forget if you have any of your own questions that you need help with in relation to writing policy briefs share them on the R2A helpdesk for expert advice.

Useful links:

R2A helpdesk

Policy brief how to page on R2A

R2A twitter account

R2A facebook page

For further information please contact the R2A team via the following email address: info@researchtoaction.org