Students will be required to write a Policy Brief on a topic of their choice. Th

Students will be required
to write a Policy Brief on a topic of their choice. This assignment will
contribute to building Competency 3 – helping students to present the knowledge
that leads to action, on critical policy issues. In the process, students will
also strengthen their policy analysis skills, learning how to analyze current
policies and their contribution to addressing specific issues, how to present
their analysis, and how to use it to develop effective changes.
The policy brief will be
4-5 pages long (excluding references), and will address the following:
(1) 
Identification
of policy issue addressed – magnitude, scope, population affected;
(2) 
Identification
of the human rights violated by this issue;
(3) 
Brief
analysis of past and current policies in relation to the identified issue –
students will
discuss the contribution of such policy
responses to addressing the issue;
(4) 
Power
analysis: identify who has decision-making power, agenda-setting
power, and
ideological
power relative to the current policy;
(5) 
Proposed
changes – students will conclude with recommendations that will improve current
policy responses, and contribute to address the
identified issue