Canadian Caregiver Coalition: Effecting Policy Change

The Caledon Institute’s Anne Makhoul recently documented the lessons learned from the Canadian Caregiver Coalition’s (CCC) successful effort to bring the issues of family caregivers to the attention of Canadian politicians and policy makers.

The report, Effecting Policy Change: Lessons from the Canadian Caregiver Coalition, produced with the Foundation’s support, focuses on the CCC’s use of Strategic Inquiry (SI) to achieve its long- and short-term public policy goals. SI helps organizations use appropriate methods and tailored messages to engage with policy-makers. The SI approach was developed and contributed by Sean Moore of the Advocacy School.

As Makhoul explains, “Neither mysterious nor manipulative, SI is about putting the asker into a government mindset. By understanding politicians’ and bureaucrats’ top-of-mind issues, pressures; likely policy developments and the players involved, the inquirer is able to shape the needs of their audience into messages that government can ‘hear’.”