Welcome to the United Nations
What is it?
The principle of sound policymaking holds that, to achieve their intended results, public policies are to be coherent with one another and founded on true or well-established grounds, in full accordance with fact, reason and good sense. Sound policymaking is the heart of institutional effectiveness. It guides the aims and methods of public service delivery, enables transformation of the economic, social, legal and administrative structures that connect us to one another, determines the conditions and scope of public investment, regulates markets and influences civic behaviour.
Why is it important?
Many governments struggle with sound policymaking because of institutional siloes, insufficient analytical capacity or simply a lack of reliable data. For a dynamic and resilient approach to sustainable development, the 2030 Agenda, Addis Ababa Action Agenda and Paris Agreement on Climate Change call for policy and institutional coherence, improved data and statistical systems and the sharing of data across functions and levels of government. This should be paired with adequate risk management, regulatory impact assessments, monitoring, evaluating and learning from results, and bringing science closer to policymaking.
Commonly used strategies
Commonly used strategies include strategic planning and foresight, regulatory impact analysis, promotion of coherent policymaking, strengthening national statistical systems, monitoring and evaluation systems, science-policy interface, risk management frameworks and data sharing.
What are some key insights for governments?
The implementation of related strategies and approaches will be more robust when they are both connected with one another and delivered as part of the solution to broader problems such as lack of economic integration or government legitimacy. Most importantly, the ingredients of sound policymaking, when combined, provide an essential foundation for informed, forward-looking action on sustainable development at all levels.
Technical guidance for government officials
 | CEPA strategy guidance note on strategic planning and foresight The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has showed the importance of strategic planning and foresight, an organized, systematic way of looking beyond the expected to engage with uncertainty and complexity. This note illustrates how strategic planning and foresight methods can be used at all stages of policy and planning cycles in a range of ways. |
| CEPA strategy guidance note on regulatory impact assessment This note on regulatory impact assessment, an evidence-based tool to support public decision-making, is a systematic appraisal of how a proposed policy is likely to affect certain categories of stakeholders and a range of outcomes. |
| CEPA strategy guidance note on promotion of coherent policymaking As a response to the interconnected nature of the SDGs, there is a renewed drive for policy coherence and integrated approaches in the policy debate around the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. The note on promotion of coherent policymaking shows the importance of public policies being coherent with one another to achieve their intended results. |
| CEPA strategy guidance note on strengthening national statistical systems The note on strengthening of national statistical information systems points to the need to transform official statistics so that they are able to support evidence-based decision making in their respective countries and to provide statistical information to meet commitments for the 2030 Agenda. |
| CEPA strategy guidance note on monitoring and evaluation systems The note on monitoring and evaluation systems highlights that to achieve the SDGs, national governments and ministries must understand their respective contributions and measure progress towards targets. |
| CEPA strategy guidance note on science-policy interface The science-policy interface is a dynamic ecosystem of processes, actors and organizational arrangements, intended to facilitate the exchange of scientific evidence and place it in the context of social values so that together these can inform some of the most complex policy problems. |
| CEPA strategy guidance note on risk management frameworks The identification, measurement, monitoring and evaluation of diverse risks, followed by a coordinated and cost-effective application of resources, can minimize and control the probability and impact of exposure and to try to maximize the realization of possible returns. |
| CEPA strategy guidance note on data sharing Having access to reliable, accurate public-sector data is crucial for sound policymaking. Accurate data helps to answer fundamental questions on selecting proper actions, to realize intended outcomes and to achieve the overall effectiveness of economic and social programmes. |
Related workshops
 | Regional webinars: Promote resilience and recovery from COVID-19 through sound policymaking in Africa (November 2021, December 2021, January 2022) |
| Workshop: Sound policymaking for sustainable development with a focus on Latin America (18 February 2021) |
| Workshop: Sound policymaking for sustainable development with a focus on Africa (16 February 2021) |