Think Tank Series │ This case intends to help other peer organizations in the region and beyond to understand their potential role in electoral campaigns and provide a toolkit for think tanks’ involvement in the matter.

Presidential campaigns in developing countries do not generally involve serious debates over strategic policy issues. On the contrary, they usually revolve around vague references to universally desirable aims without specifying how these initiatives will be financed, what is the concrete action plan that will be employed to reach the proposed objectives, and/or what are the different alternatives to consider. Moreover, discussions are sometimes reduced to the candidate’s personal history and that of their parties rather than directing attention to their policy priorities and plans for much needed reforms. While some countries have a long history of having presidential candidates explaining and supporting the policies they promote in a national debate, others keep avoiding this healthy political practice.

Following other think tanks’ experiences in the region, in 2011 the Center for the Implementation of Public Policies Promoting Equity and Growth (CIPPEC), in partnership with other civil society organizations, embarked on an initiative destined to improve the quality of the public debate. This experience is reflected and analyzed in Promoting a national policy forum: CIPPEC’s “Agenda for the President 2011-2015” .

This case intends to help other peer organizations in the region and beyond to understand their potential role in electoral campaigns and provide a toolkit for think tanks’ involvement in the matter.  The document presents the context in which the initiative was developed, the strategies that the organization carried out to promote policy debate, a balance addressing internal and external issues, and some lessons we have learned from the experience.

This document inaugurates the Think tanks’ Series, intended to share knowledge and lessons on policy influence and organizational management with think tanks throughout the world.

Access the document Promoting a national policy forum: CIPPEC’s “Agenda for the President 2011-2015”

By Leandro Echt, Coordinator of the Influence, Monitoring and Evaluation Program, and Agustina Eskenazi, International relations student at the University of Pennsylvania.

The document is also available in Spanish at VIPPAL.