From New Zealand to Nepal – working to fix the ‘policy problem’

Aotearoa New Zealand based ANZSOG Practice Fellow, Sally Washington, was the ‘featured global expert’ in the Nepal Policy Leadership Programme (NPLP) this month, sharing her expertise on policy development and policy advice. 

NPLP is the annual flagship program of Nepal Policy Institute (NPI) offered in collaboration with Kathmandu University (KU) for government officers. The 2025 cohort of 30 included officials from 21 minitries including two joint-Secretaries from the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers (OPMC), and 23 Undersecretaries. The program focuses on strategic perspectives on policy analysis and policy capability, critical thinking and emotional intelligence for policy leadership (in the Artificial Intelligence era), as well as the application of specific policy analysis tools for policy and strategy.

Ms Washington told participants that, regardless of different contexts, the challenge of improving the quality of policy advice and underpinning capability is very similar. She advocates a systemic approach to the ‘policy problem’ which she refers to as “building the policy infrastructure.”  

In her session – “The Policy Infrastructure: Building Capability for Better Government Decision-Making: approaches, framework and lessons learned” – Ms Washington outlined international approaches to building policy capability.  She then focused on a few components of the policy infrastructure: a modern policy toolkit, a scalable policy advice model, skills for policy, and the importance of relationships with ministers and other decision makers.  

Policy quality – what’s in the modern policy toolkit?

Ms Washington argues that policy professionals need to understand the range of methods for policy design and delivery and to be able to determine which method, or combination of methods, to apply to which policy challenge. The modern policy toolkit includes a range of approaches to policy challenges or opportunities, including:  

• Bringing the public into public policy through participatory processes 
• Applying design thinking/user-centred design  
• Behavioural science, behavioural insights frameworks 
• Data analytics, applying technology (digital and AI) to policy 
• Inclusive policy frameworks – gender analysis, indigenous impact analysis 
• Foresight and futures, policy stewardship and anticipatory governance 
• Crafting powerful narratives and storytelling to deliver impactful advice.  

Some methods are more, or less, applicable at various stages of the policy process. Ms Washington shared ANZSOG’s 5D policy model, a framing of the policy process which can be described as a ‘new operating model for how we do policy’. Nepalese policy leaders engaged with the 5D model (Figure 1) including watching the animation which brings it to life (watch the animation here). 

Figure 1. The 5D policy Advice Model (credit Sally Washington) 

The 5D policy model – an anchor for policy toolkits and policy skills

The 5D model can also provide an anchor for policy toolkits, engagement processes, end-to-end evaluation, and an articulation of policy skills. Figure 2 is illustrative rather than exhaustive and shows how the model can support other parts of the policy infrastructure, including articulating required policy skills. The NPLP session included a deep dive into skills for policy. 

Figure 2. The 5D policy model as an anchor for policy infrastructure components 

Skills for policy – what’s needed and what does good look like?

What do policy professionals need to know, be able to do, act? Ms Washington describes these as the “head, hand and heart of policy”. She argues that no one person can be expert at every policy skill and that the diversity and make-up of teams is more important for delivering quality advice to decision makers. Leaders need to be able to articulate the skills required of policy staff and what good performance looks like. Ms Washington shared how Aotearoa New Zealand had set out the skills for policy and what they look like at different levels of expertise – expert (“top of their game”), Practicing (“a safe pair of hands”) and Developing (“starting out”). She used strategic thinking as an example of a skill often demanded but rarely spelt out in a practical ‘what does this mean for me’ way (Figure 3).   

Figure 3. Strategic thinking – what does it look like in practice 

Critical thinking – an essential skill for policy and governance

The NPLP includes a special component on ‘critical thinking’ skills, which are essential for policy design, delivery and evaluation, as well as other aspects of public governance. Public servants need to be able to challenge their own assumptions, critique the validity of evidence, be numerate, understand different perspectives and be agile and adaptable as they design and deliver policies and programmes. Dr Khagendra Dhakal, who co-leads of the NPLP (along with the architect of the programme, Dr Gambhir Bhatta), tested the 5D policy model (with a little help from AI) against his description of critical thinking skills and why it matters for policy (Figure 4). This will form part of the ongoing programme and Dr Dhakal’s future research and potential collaboration with ANZSOG.      

Figure 4. Critical thinking and the 5D model 

Quality policy advice – the ultimate test

Skills, models, toolkits and processes are all important for providing good policy advice. The ultimate test of the quality of that advice is whether it helps decision makers take good decisions. Ms Washington says: “if we think about policy advice as ‘support for good government decision making’ then we can set some criteria for quality”. She shared with Nepalese officials some key questions to ask – which could be used as a simple acid test before delivering advice to ministers or other senior decision makers (Figure 5) and could form the basis for quality standards and quality assurance processes.  

Figure 5. Acid tests for the quality of policy advice (Source: Sally Washington) 

Ms Washington also shared her work at ANZSOG on the ‘demand side’ of policy – how officials can build great relationships with ministers and support them to be “intelligent customers of advice”. She will be delivering an ANZSOG Public Leadership Masterclass on this topic, along with Jasmina Joldic, ANZSOG Practice Fellow and former Director General in the Queensland government later this year.  

NPLP participants gave positive feedback on the session (held on a public holiday). Dr Dhakal said: “Your presentation provided a wealth of essential material in one place. Impressively, all participants stayed until the very end, even though today coincided with a major festival”.  Ms Washington has been invited to talk further with the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers on building policy capability and will contribute to the NPLP in 2026. Ms Washington said, “It’s always a pleasure to engage with people working in other jurisdictions – I learn from their experience and build my own by holding a mirror up to my own practice.” 

Want to learn more?

• Sally Washington: An infrastructure for building policy capability – lessons from practice (tandfonline.com);  
• Building policy capability – an infrastructure approach (Report of a curated conversation between 3 ANZSOG jurisdictions) 
• How to deliver great policy advice: the 5D policy model 
• Christopher Walker and Sally Washington: Guiding the provision of quality policy advice: the 5D model; 
• Delivering quality policy advice? Think D, E and F-words  
• Putting the Public into Public Policy: Engaging for Better Decision Making 
• Building internal government capability for policy – set expectations and build collective expertise