At atticusnow, we specialise in providing policy and strategy advice in relation to changes to government policies and programs. We advise government, but we also assist businesses and NGOs, often as an input to government processes.
Government policies and programs are usually designed to address a specific market failure or to to achieve some social, economic or environmental objective. But the world is rapidly changing including major changes to markets and technology, and policies and programs need to adapt to these changes if they are to be effective.
A project typically starts with a review of the relevant background, context, data and literature. This may be supplemented with interviews or workshops with stakeholders to gain more information especially on practical issues. We identify the state of play and the key issues and pressures. We explore for best practice case studies in Australia or globally.
We then usually ask a few key questions. What is the problem we are trying to solve? What is the logic of how the policy or program will help solve this problem? Do we have evidence that such policies or programs actually work? Are there alternative approaches to solving the problem that are better? How would we know if we were successful, and how would it be measured? This provides us with a conceptual framework to guide the rest of the project.
We then usually explore a range of options. We develop a set of specific criteria against which we can assess the options to identify preferred options. At this point we usual test out our thinking in a workshop with the client and perhaps some key stakeholders to test out our thinking and codesign some solutions.
Once the preferred options have been identified, the focus then moves to implementation planning, including identifying the key next steps.
The finding are presented in a high impact report, which would be of a standard that it could be publicly released if required.
Team experience includes:
Victorian Spirits Industry Strategy - development of a strategy for the distilled spirits industry in Victoria, cooperatively for Spirits Victoria and the Victorian Government, including extensive consultation and a series of codesign workshops
Commonwealth Government – developed a concept paper on establishing a government consulting unit. The outcome was a Budget announcement to establish the unit
Creative Partnerships Australia – conducted evaluations of Creative Partnerships Australia’s matched fundraising programs, MATCHLab and Plus1
City of Yarra – undertook an financial sustainability review of the City including identifying options for action
Monash University – development of a strategy and and implementation plan for a step change in commercialisation outcomes for the University
City of Melbourne – developed a strategy to increase employment and economic inclusion for Aboriginal people and businesses in the city