How to write and design a policy brief decision-makers read

FAO defines a policy brief as a concise summary of an issue, the policy options for dealing with it and recommendations on the best option, written for government policymakers and others who want to shape policy.¹ It is not a short version of your report. It is an argument for a decision, built from your evidence.

Expect it to work on some readers more than others. In a randomised study of a two-page brief run by IDS and 3ie with 807 participants, the brief had little effect on the beliefs of readers who already held strong views, but showed some potential to create evidence-accurate beliefs among readers with no prior view.² Write for the open-minded official who has not yet made up their mind, and give them something they can repeat.

Length is a design decision, not something you discover at the end. FAO describes a typical brief as a single A4 sheet of perhaps 700 words, with longer briefs of up to eight pages or 3,000 words also possible.¹ The University of Sussex suggests two or four A4 pages, roughly 1,000 to 2,000 words.³

Pick the shortest format that can carry your evidence. A single page suits one clear recommendation. Two to four pages suit a brief that compares options or needs a chart and a case example. Agree the format with whoever signs off the brief before drafting, so nobody asks for a ten-page version at the last minute.

Most good briefs follow the same order. FAO's core sequence is title, summary, recommendations, introduction, main text, policy implications and conclusions.¹ Sussex adds a practical detail: a summary of 100 to 200 words that covers the issue, key findings and recommendations, and contains enough information to stand on its own.³

This is the inverted pyramid that journalists use: the most important information, often the conclusion, comes first, so readers can stop at any point and still leave with the main point.⁴ Many ministers and directors will read only the title and summary. Write those two parts last, once you know exactly what the evidence says.

• Title: a short, specific claim, not a topic label
• Summary: 100 to 200 words, including the recommendations
• Introduction: the problem, who it affects and why it matters now
• Findings: the evidence, with its limits stated honestly
• Recommendations: what should happen, who should do it and when
• References and contact details

Recommendations are where most briefs go soft. Sussex advises keeping them rooted in facts rather than opinion, making them specific and achievable, naming the organisations or people who must act, stating important deadlines and describing any cost implications.³ "Strengthen coordination" is not a recommendation. "The ministry and district health offices should agree a shared reporting form before the next budget cycle" is.

Use the active voice so it is clear who needs to act, keep sentences and paragraphs short, and write as if explaining the issue to a non-specialist.³ Leave methods to an annex or a link. Officials need to trust your evidence, but they rarely need to see how the sample was drawn on page one.

Policy brief design is about helping a busy reader find the argument in seconds. FAO recommends more headings than usual, with at least six subheadings in a four-page brief.¹ It also advises keeping boxes self-contained and limiting them to about one per page, and keeping tables to no more than four columns and six rows.¹

Visuals do a lot of work. FAO notes that readers often look at graphics before reading the text, that photographs attract attention even more, and that photographs should be high quality and printed at a minimum of 150 dpi.¹ In our own practice, we choose one strong photograph that shows the people affected by the policy, with an accurate caption, rather than several decorative images.

A chart in a policy brief should prove one point. The EU data visualisation guide recommends starting from the message you want to communicate and the pattern in the data that matters most, then choosing the chart that highlights it.⁵ A change over time suggests a line chart; a comparison between districts suggests a sorted bar chart.

Give every chart a headline that states the finding, such as "Enrolment fell in three of five districts", rather than a label like "Enrolment by district". Add the source and date underneath, and remove anything that does not help the reader see the point.

Briefs are read on phones, projected in meetings and printed in black and white. For text, WCAG sets a minimum contrast ratio of 4.5:1, or 3:1 for large text, which rules out pale grey type on tinted boxes.⁶ Do not rely on colour alone to tell chart lines apart, and export a tagged PDF with real headings so screen readers can navigate it.

If your organisation publishes briefs regularly, build a policy brief template once and reuse it. FAO lists the supporting elements a series needs: a masthead with the series title, authors, acknowledgements, publication details and references.¹ A good template fixes these, along with type styles, chart colours and the grid, so each new brief starts from the evidence rather than from a blank page.

• One named reader and one decision in mind
• Length agreed before drafting
• Title that states the finding
• Summary of 100 to 200 words that stands alone
• Recommendations that name who acts and by when
• At least one subheading per main point
• One chart per message, with a headline and source
• Text contrast of at least 4.5:1 and a tagged PDF