Policy Memo Guidelines:

Policy memos are brief documents that provide analysis on a topic/issue and offer policy
recommendations based on that analysis. Policy memos need to be concise and very specifically
directed to the target audience. Your policy memo needs to be structured based on the template
provided. In addition, students need to use concise language when writing the memo since it is
designed to impart specific information in a brief manner.
The following are the sections that need to be included when you are writing your policy
memo.

I. Header:
The Header must include the following:
- To whom you are addressing the policy memo (make sure to include official titles such as
Dr., President, etc.),
- from whom (along with your affiliation/title; example: Chief Security Advisor, Government
of Bangladesh),
- date, and
- the topic/issue area of the memo need to be included as the header (RE: …… )

II. Executive Summary (half a page) – 2 points

- The executive summary is a very brief version of your whole policy memo. This section
should be very specific yet it needs to convey the importance of your topic. It needs to
include the following:
a) A succinct definition of the problem/issue: how would you briefly describe the problem at
hand? (Example – security concerns in coastal areas of Bangladesh due to rising sea levels)
b) A succinct description of the topic/issue’s importance: this sentence needs to relay why
anyone should care about your topic (Example – why are the security concerns of coastal
areas of Bangladesh tied to rising sea levels important to discuss?)
c) A brief summary of your policy recommendations

III. Background (1/2 - 2/3 of a page) – 3 points

- Elaborate on the issue area being covered. For the example of Bangladesh’s coastal areas,
discuss what the Bangladeshi government is currently doing to address the issue.
- Second, provide quantitative data. For example, what is the situation of coastal communities
in Bangladesh? What does the government data or UN data indicate regarding the impact of
rising sea levels on coastal Bangladeshis? How many people or what percentage of the
population is impacted?

IV. Policy recommendations (2/3 of a page) – 4 points

- Based on the background section, what policies would you propose for betterment of coastal
communities and their predicant due to climate change?
- How did you decide on the policy recommendations? What is the rationale behind these
propositions? Each policy recommendation needs to be followed by a statement of rationale
on why you are proposing it.
- Policy recommendations should be realistic in their goals and feasible for the country you are
assigned.
V. References
- Use in-text citations. For example, if you are using data from Bangaldesh’s Ministry of
Home Affairs, you can simply use: (Ministry of Home Affairs, 2018) or “According to the
Ministry of Home Affairs of Bangladesh (2019), 15% of the population….”.

Grading Rubric:
Executive Summary 2 points
Background 3 points
Policy Recommendations 4 points
Adherence to style and grammar 1 point