Locations
Thailand Policy Lab (Phase 2)
Background and Development Challenges
Thailand Policy Lab, through the partnership between NESDC and UNDP aims to reimagine Thailand’s public policymaking to respond to new challenges and people’s needs
Over the years, the Thailand Policy Lab (TPLab) has collaborated with NESDC and key ministries on more than 50 initiatives— ranging from innovative and inclusive policy interventions, hackathons, capacity building trainings for officials, testing prototypes and policy experiments on the field through pilots to more strategic policy design support towards policies like the Youth Mental Health Policy which ensure inclusive, participatory and innovative engagement of youths in the policymaking process from the first step , Universal Healthcare coverage in collaboration with NHSO for their 5 year national plan, etc. Based on the rich learnings and experiences by far (see TPL’s Phase 1 milestones here). Thailand Policy Lab now has an extended phase; Thailand Policy Lab Phase 2 with an ambition to make a strategic move towards supporting the Royal Thai Government by sharpening and enhancing its support the transformation of Public Policy Process in Thailand with innovative and inclusive approaches (participatory/agile/adaptive policymaking, foresight, systems, data etc.), co-designing scalable and sustainable policy experiments, crafting immersive and experiential learning journeys to build new capabilities within the civil services, work on emergency/crisis situation support, and enhancing the development functions of the government by building more appetite for innovation in public service delivery systems. The lab, in its new phase, aims to support NESDC and key line ministries in exploring, embedding and implementing innovative solutions to critical policymaking challenges and gaps.
Objectives
Thailand Policy Lab will focus on three strategic outputs:
Transforming the Public Policy Process by enhancing strategic capacity and fostering a robust ecosystem for evidence-based, participatory, and adaptive policymaking.
Addressing Critical and Emerging Issues such as demographic shift justice transformation, climate resilience, and related areas through innovative, issue-specific policy recommendations and experimentation - all contributing to improving country’s competitiveness.
Strengthening a Learning Community of Innovators by building capacity, facilitating cross-sector collaboration, and promoting knowledge exchange across Thailand and beyond.
TPLab phase 2 also aims at institutionalizing the approaches and processes for maintaining the continuum of usage amongst policymakers nationally and expanding the network internationally.
Related Signature Solutions: UNDP Strategic Plan 2020-2025
- Poverty and Inequality
- Gender Equality
- Governance
- Resilience
- Environment
- Energy
Key Achievements
Past Performance: The implementation of the project in Phase 1 has resulted in benefits for Thailand, including:
- The design and development of an 8-step public policy process (Public Policy Process Reimagined 8 Elements in Action) tailored to complex policy issues.
- The policy process and tools have been trialed with policies or plans of government agencies, local administrative organizations, educational institutions, and diverse partners. (For example, designing and testing (Sandbox) Policy for youths-by-youth policy on mental health, preparing the 5th National Health Security Office Action Plan (2023-2027), a hackathon to develop policy proposals on employment of persons with disabilities, a study to gain in-depth understanding of target groups with the potential to increase or support the increase in the proportion and improve the quality of the youth population, driving the development of health and nutrition systems in 40 target sub-districts of Pattani Province, policy proposals that respond to climate change, and a project to develop a poverty alleviation model.)
- Approximately 83 partner agencies are working with TPLab.
- Approximately 2,500 personnel have participated in the project's workshops, - Approximately 47,120 participants have participated in on-site and online learning exchanges from both domestic and international sources.
- Develop and publish manuals for developing public policy innovations, including the Thailand Policy Lab Handbook: Practical Knowledges from Thailand Policy Lab’s Experiences and the Policy Hackathon Playbook.
