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Implementation-Centered Policy Model: A Practitioner's Guide for Humanitarian Policy Officers
Paperback
ManagementGeneral Political Science
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Jun 27 2026
Pages: 30
Weight: 0.11
Height: 0.08 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Political will overrides analysis. Directives arrive before context is understood. Implementation gets treated as a downstream step - when it's actually the thing that determines whether a policy delivers.
The Implementation-Centered Policy Model (ICPM) starts from the observation that, in humanitarian settings, the standard linear policy cycle does not reflect how decisions are actually made or how policies succeed or fail.
This guide changes that. Developed by humanitarian practitioner Salar Khudadad from field experience across Iraq, Sudan, and the MENA region, the ICPM places implementation at the heart of the policy cycle - and provides policy officers with a practical structure for working with it.
What this guide covers:
- The two real drivers of humanitarian policy - need and political will - and how to identify which one is dominant in your situation
- The ICPM framework: how inputs, decisions, implementation, and outputs connect, and where evaluation fits as a continuous function rather than a final step
- The ten activity domains inside implementation, and how to assess which are planned and which are gaps
- How to apply the OECD evaluation criteria at any stage of the policy cycle, not just at the end
- Three scenario types: top-down directives, bottom-up problem identification, and policies under mid-implementation pressure, with worked guidance for each
- Practical guidance for inheriting a policy mid-cycle, managing the gap between what was approved and what can be delivered, and knowing when a policy has reached the end of its useful life
Written for humanitarian policy officers at the field or headquarters level who need a structured way to think about policy that reflects how the sector actually works. Not a theory text. The sections are short. The guidance is designed to be used in the course of real work.
The ICPM was first developed in September 2021 and introduced as a LinkedIn article in June 2022. A short version appears as one chapter in Humanitarian Perspectives. This guide is the full, standalone version: the complete framework, diagnostic tools, and worked scenarios that the essay format didn't have room for.
If you work on policy design, implementation, or review in a humanitarian organisation, this is a working tool, not a shelf reference.
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Khudadad, Salar
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The Alignment Gap: Why Humanitarian Organizations Underperform, and What to Do Instead
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