Reading policy documents

Let’s be honest, policy documents can be boring or difficult to read. Often they are both. Sadly, because of this many young people don’t consider reading these documents, meaning that youth voices are often absent in the policies that affect our lives. But being able to read, understand and comment on policy is an important skill for any young advocate to develop. The more you do it the better you will become at it!

Start by reading through the document to determine if the policy aligns with your issue. Here are some useful steps:

• Begin by reading the table of contents to get a sense of what is contained in the document;

• Read the introduction and executive summary – this will give you a good overview of what the document is about;

• When you come across new or difficult words, use a dictionary or web search to improve your understanding;

• Doing a ‘keyword search’ on the document can be useful to investigate:

1) how often ‘youth’ is mentioned;

2) how often the subject issue is mentioned, e.g. education, health, gender-based violence; and

3) the context in which these are mentioned;

• Pay special attention to the language used, especially when it comes to action items. Is the language committal or non-committal, for example, “We will eradicate poverty by 2030” or “We encourage the eradication of poverty by 2030.” We can hold leaders accountable based on what they have committed to do and not what they encourage or motivate;

• Once you have understood a policy, you may also want to conduct further research regarding an issue.

You may need to read the document a few times or ask for help. But you can do it – and once you have read and understood the document, its time to make some changes!