Legislative process

Question 1

Who initiates the law?

Answer 1

Depends on the country

• Most of the time, both Parliament and Government (parliamentary system: executive accountable to the legislative)
• Can be Parliament alone (strict presidential systems)
• Can be right of government alone (financial legislation in some States)
• Can be rights of groups of individuals

Question 2

What are the steps to create a law?

Answer 2

1. The right thing to do: access to evidence and expertise, what’s the problem?
2. Drafting (expertise in legal solutions, coherence with existing law)
3. Developing consensus and support (engaging communities, find a compromise)
4. Enforcement strategies
5. Monitoring and evaluation (policy surveillance = systematic collection, analysis, interpretation and dissemination of information about a law/policy)

Question 3

What are the major challenges for translating evidence into policies?

Answer 3

Clash of cultures
Willingness to accept uncertainty
Different language and information overload
Timing
Different thought-processes

Question 4

What are solutions to improve the translation process between evidence and policy?

Answer 4

For researchers: better understanding of political process, greater involvement in the process, using local case studies, development of political champions, better communication, fighting false information

For policymakers: access locally relevant evidence, understand uncertainty, meet researchers, increased access to information