Template for Policies

Recommendations by NGO Council

20^th July 2006

The NGO Council feels that there is value in creating a checklist what a Policy Document should contain e.g. for policies being made by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, the Government of Maharashtra, or any other government authority.

This would help in policies being comprehensive, holistic, doable, enforceable, flexible, etc. We would be pleased to discuss this in detail.

What a Policy must include:
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1. Index of contents

2. Introduction
i)            Preamble to the Policy
ii)           A brief Statement of Purpose, including scope of policy
iii)          Reasons for Policy
iv)          Summary of main policy recommendations

3. Background / History
(References to previous versions of this policy, some past and current
initiatives that have led to this policy)

4. Title and Commencement Date

5. Vision

6. Objectives of the Policy

7. Applicability
(persons / organisations and area to which policy is applicable) including:
i)             Exclusions
(Lists any locations or organizations that are excluded from the policy)
ii)            Special Situations / Categories
(Contains information about important circumstances that affect only a
         few people or circumstances that occur infrequently)

8. Applicable / Relevant Laws of City, State, Centre, and other Government
bodies (laws, court orders, acts, policies, circulars, etc.)

9. Definitions
(Defines any technical language or words used in a special sense)

10. Policy – detailed clauses

11. Procedures – detailed clauses
(Outlines steps that must be followed in order to comply with the policy)

12. Responsibilities of various stakeholders (participating and affected)
including:
i)       Stakeholder awareness, education and training
ii)       Documentation of Best Practices, experts, etc.
iii)      Setting up a Helpline
iv)      Setting up of Complaint redressal mechanism
v)       List of designated officers responsible for specific tasks
vi)      Reporting mechanisms and structures
vii)     Transparency of  public accessibility
viii)    Coordination with other govt. bodies
ix)      Self-regulation of stakeholders

13. Annual / Periodic Actions to be taken:
i)           Setting of targets
ii)          Setting up of Committees
iii)          Undertaking Reviews

14. Setting up of the following Committees:
i)             Apex and decentralised committees (with LACGs) (for overall
functioning of the policy)
ii)            Advisory committee (invitees / experts)

15. Sharing of Information / Ensuring Transparency
i)           Setting up structures for information flow
ii)          Specifying decision making mechanism
iii)          Linkages to Citizen Charter, where applicable
iv)          Information dissemination through a website
v)           Sharing of minutes of meeting, Action Taken Reports, etc.

16. Review Mechanism
i)             Joint Review of policy with the NGO Council
ii)            Review of Implementation
iii)          Review of stakeholders support / participation

17. Long term Planning mechanisms

 18. Schedules, e.g. Application Forms, Schedule of Fines, etc.

19.  Appendices: e.g. Plans, annual targets, etc.