Okay. So we spent quite a bit of time looking at what policies are, how they
should get made, how they actually get made, and all kinds of different factors
that come into play which often mean that the rational logical thing
doesn't happen. And so the question that everyone is probably feeling now is, "Oh, God,
can I actually do any of this?" And the answer is "Yes, you can." From my
experience, policy change can take a while but it
does happen. And persistence and effective networking and good research and
continued effort - it does pay off. So I want everyone to feel very positive
about the fact that they can make a difference. But sometimes it's also about
understanding who you are and what your role is so that you don't
have too high expectations of yourself but also at the same time we don't have
too low expectations too. We will talk a little bit about that now. Thanks.
So one of the things that we'll be wanting to look at - and we'll be doing
this through the workshops and through the face-to-face sessions - is to get you
really thinking about what your role is around policy, around dementia care. And
we'll be looking at some of the key issues in the policy workshops about how
you would go about understanding the problem, making good connections, building
a network of like-minded people, and then trying to influence and change policy.
And we'll try and make it very practical and hands-on with people
who've been involved in changing policy in different countries, some of them with
a lot of experience in dementia care, some of them just experienced more
broadly with policy and healthcare policy. And it's partly
around two things, I guess, it's partly around giving you the toolkit, the
necessary skills that you need under your belt so you can go and try and
influence policy. But it's also giving you an understanding and a
realization that you are, you know, that you're only one person, and that one
person by yourself probably won't be able to change policy. But one person in
a collaboration, one person in a team, part of a coalition, you probably
can in time. So it's really about getting you to identify what
are your own strengths. Is your strength in research, in bringing evidence to play?
Are you a policy entrepreneur who can actually go out and make things happen?
Are you a policymaker or a manager who can help with the implementation?
So it's really about knowing where are you: Are you good at
communicating with people? Can you influence how people think or look at
things? So I think if you know your strengths, it allows you to
understand what role you can play in the process and who you will need to link in
with in terms of other skill sets and different strengths and different
power that different, other people have, who you need to link in with in order to
get a policy over the line. So we're thinking a lot about, yes, giving you
tools but understanding also that you need to be part of a broader policy team.
You need to be part of a coalition which is advocating for good change,
particularly around dementia care policy.
And then finally I just want to leave you with this idea of different elements
in the policy-making process. Sometimes it's quite difficult to get things onto
the table. So, in other words, for policymakers to consider it, for
policymakers to even discuss it, getting it on the table for in-live discussion
with the people who are making policy is a whole art in itself, an agenda setting.
And how you do that, how you use media to do that, or how you use key spokespeople, key
policy experts, or key individuals have, who have lots of trusted
capital to speak out on certain issues - that's a whole set of issues. Then
there's the actual decision-making process itself: How that happens? Who's
there at the table? What kind of evidence can be used? And what kind of, what
are the key arguments and skills that can win people over? And then of course
there's the implementation stage, and how you resource it, how you think it through,
how you make sure it actually happens, and you're communicating well and people
have sufficient buy-in. All those different stages need different skills.
And I'm convinced that if you're on this program, you will be able to input and
least into one of those and possibly into more. But it's also about finding
other people who can also complement you in that process. So be courageous. Be
strong. You can make a difference. And we're going to equip you as much as we
can so that you can go and do that and have realistic expectations of what you can achieve.
So once more unto the breach dear friends once more.
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