Policy Research
Generating and interrogating evidence: problem definition, data sources, comparative practice and the research discipline a defensible policy rests on.
PGT Certifications/Level 3/Practitioner
PGT 300 · Level 3 · Design & Implement
PGT Practitioner
Policy Design, Delivery and National Development
Ten days for the people who have to make it work. Practitioner is where policy stops being a document and becomes a researched, designed, costed, monitored programme — with the methods to build it and the evidence to prove it delivered.
10
Days · Level 3 of 5
Ten modules across ten days, working from 20+ global references and standards.
- Course code
- PGT 300
- Primary focus
- Policy design and implementation
- Duration
- 10 days
- Modules
- 10 modules
- Body of knowledge
- 20+ references
About the certification
The level where policy
meets the method.
Executive is for those who set direction. Practitioner is for those who have to make the direction real — and who know that the gap between the two is technique.
Every failed reform has a moment where it was still recoverable: a problem researched too thinly, a regulation whose impact was never assessed, a stakeholder mapped too late, a risk nobody owned, an indicator that measured activity instead of result. Ten days work through the methods that catch those moments — policy research and design, regulatory impact assessment, programme design, results-based management, risk and stakeholder management, monitoring and evaluation, performance measurement, and policy improvement.
The reference base widens to 20+ documents. Everything from Executive carries forward, and Practitioner adds the operational material: OECD public governance reviews and the RIA framework, UNDESA planning guidance and the UNDP results-based management handbook, World Bank M&E and expenditure instruments, the African Union's Agenda 2063 implementation framework and the African Peer Review Mechanism — and, for the first time in the pathway, ISO standards for governance and risk.
Good intentions do not survive implementation. Method does.
Learning objectives
- Design evidence-based policy
- Conduct regulatory impact analysis
- Build implementation frameworks
- Manage policy risks
- Evaluate programmes
Target audience
For the technical core of delivery
Practitioner is written for those who work on policies and programmes directly — analysing, designing, implementing, measuring and evaluating them.
Policy specialists
Those who research the evidence, appraise the options and write what a decision rests on.
Programme managers
Managers accountable for scope, schedule, budget and the result at the end of it.
M&E specialists
Officers building indicators, evaluations and reporting that inform rather than decorate.
Government consultants
Advisers who design and appraise public programmes and need a common, defensible method.
Reform teams
Delivery units and reform teams who gain most from learning one shared method together.
Sector implementers
Technical leads carrying a health, education, energy, security or infrastructure portfolio.
Where Practitioner sits
PGT Practitioner is Level 3 of the five-level PGT pathway, focused on policy design and implementation. Executive applies governance standards as a leader; Practitioner teaches the methods and tools of design, delivery and evaluation in depth. Many institutions send both cohorts.
Course outline
Ten modules across ten days
The full delivery cycle — from research and design, through impact assessment and risk, to measurement, evaluation and improvement.
Policy Design
Turning evidence into an instrument that works — options appraisal, coherence with existing policy, and design decisions that determine whether delivery is even possible.
Regulatory Impact Assessment
Assessing the effect of a proposed rule before it is made — on citizens, businesses, compliance costs and the institutions expected to enforce it.
Programme Design
Theory of change, logic models, work breakdown and sequencing — converting an approved policy into a programme with owners, timelines and budgets.
Results-Based Management
Managing to outcomes rather than activity: results frameworks, accountability for delivery, and adapting when the evidence says the plan is wrong.
Risk Management
Identifying, rating and assigning ownership of risk — political, fiscal, operational and reputational — with mitigation that is funded rather than aspirational.
Stakeholder Management
Mapping interest and influence, designing engagement early, and managing the human side of reform that most implementation plans leave unwritten.
Monitoring & Evaluation
Process, outcome and impact evaluation — choosing the right design for the question, and commissioning and using evaluation honestly.
Performance Measurement
Indicators, baselines and targets that drive the right behaviour, avoiding measures that quietly corrupt the work they were meant to improve.
Policy Improvement
Closing the loop: learning from delivery, institutionalising the lessons, and renewing or retiring policy rather than leaving it to drift.
Body of knowledge
20+ references
Practitioner is the operational level of the pathway, and its reference base is chosen accordingly — the documents with methods and tools inside them.
Everything in Executive, carried forward
The seven OECD frameworks and recommendations, the UN 2030 Agenda with UNDP and E-Government guidance, the World Bank governance instruments and African Union Agenda 2063 all remain in scope. Practitioner then adds the following.
OECD
Added at Level 3- OECD Public Governance Reviews
- Recommendation on Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development
- OECD Framework for Regulatory Impact Assessment
United Nations
Added at Level 3- UNDESA Integrated Planning Guidance
- UNDP Results-Based Management Handbook
- UN Voluntary National Review (VNR) Handbook
World Bank
Added at Level 3- Monitoring & Evaluation Frameworks
- Public Expenditure Reviews
- Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA)
African Union
Added at Level 3- Agenda 2063 Implementation Framework
- African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM)
ISO
New at Level 3- ISO 37000 — Governance of Organizations
- ISO 31000 — Risk Management
Why it matters
Level 3Executive teaches the standards a government is judged against. Practitioner adds the instruments used to meet them — impact assessment frameworks, results-based management handbooks, evaluation methods and international management system standards.
The reference base is cumulative. Foundation begins with 2 definitive references, Executive works from approximately 12, and Practitioner from 20+. Professional carries all of these forward to 30+, and Leader to 40+.
Learning outcomes
What you leave with
By the end of PGT Practitioner you hold a method you can apply to any policy or programme that crosses your desk — and the evidence to show it is working.
- Design implementable policies
- Deliver public programmes
- Improve performance
- Measure outcomes effectively
- Conduct regulatory impact analysis
- Manage policy risk and stakeholders through delivery
TN
PGT Practitioner Certification
Level 3 of the five-level Policy, Governance and Transformation certification pathway.
- Course code PGT 300 · primary focus: policy design and implementation
- 10 days · 10 modules
- 20+ references, including ISO 37000 and ISO 31000
- The third rung of the PGT pathway
Where it leads
Design and implement, then transform
The five levels move from understanding governance to shaping nations. Each is a complete certification in its own right.
PGT Professional
Government Transformation, Innovation and Institutional Excellence — fifteen days for permanent secretaries, directors-general, agency heads, transformation directors and chief strategy officers, working from 30+ references across institutional transformation, strategic execution, portfolio governance, innovation and national resilience.
PGT PractitionerYou are here · Design
Questions
Before you register
How is Practitioner different from Executive?
Executive is about applying governance standards as a leader — integrity, regulation, budget, digital, performance. Practitioner is about the methods and tools of design, delivery and evaluation. The two complement each other, and many institutions send both cohorts.
Is this a monitoring and evaluation course?
M&E is a substantial part of it, but Practitioner covers the whole cycle — research, design, regulatory impact assessment, programme design, results-based management, risk, stakeholders, evaluation, performance measurement and policy improvement. Officers working only in M&E still gain the design context their indicators depend on.
What will we be working from?
20+ references. Everything from Executive carries forward, plus OECD public governance reviews and the RIA framework, UNDESA and UNDP planning and results handbooks, the UN VNR Handbook, World Bank M&E, expenditure review and CPIA instruments, AU Agenda 2063 implementation and the APRM, and ISO 37000 and ISO 31000.
Why do ISO standards appear at this level?
Because Practitioner is where governance becomes operational. ISO 37000 provides the governance-of-organisations standard and ISO 31000 the risk management standard — both are working instruments rather than policy statements, which is exactly what this level teaches.
Can a whole delivery team attend together?
Yes, and it is the recommended way to take this level. A shared method across a reform team or delivery unit is worth considerably more than individually trained officers each working differently.
Do I need Executive first?
Practitioner is a complete certification in its own right, written for those working directly on policies and programmes. Executive covers the governance standards this level operationalises, so the two sit naturally together.