Hello again.

It has been a year since I stopped writing this Substack. In that time, I gained as much experience as I could, even when painful, to fulfill my promise to myself to learn about the industry.

Here are what I have learned or had reiterated to me:

Personal

· I am unsuited to politics. I do not have the personality required for it.

· Neither am I comfortable with being in the spotlight. I love working in the background, supporting candidates.

· Policy works well for me but the learning curve is steep (worth it, but steep).

· You have to really put yourself out there and do things, even if you fall flat on your face.

Political

· The game is interesting and there is much to learn, but at the end of the day, it can very easily become a game of who can be the loudest or most cunning.

· Agendas can be visible or hidden but everyone has one. How you play that will determine your future in politics.

· Honest people can definitely make it work but they face more uphill battles and can fall much further than others because they are at the mercy of other people’s machinations.

· Public faces are not the same as private. You have to be careful what you say to whom because they can easily go to your opponent and tell them (maybe even with proof) what you said.

· Loyalties are hard to come by but not impossible to find.

· Someone can be a good human but not be practical or impactful in political life.

Policy

This is still a confusing area for me. The sheer chaos in this sector, the difficulty breaking into the levels at which policymaking takes place, and the steep learning curve has not given me enough clarity yet. Caveat: The chaos might just be for me, a new entrant. Those who have been there for many years might be breezing through this.

· The work we do at my organisation also could be more focused but getting the funding to do the research, getting stakeholders engaged in the necessity of one type of policy over another, or even getting the organisation going in one direction can be difficult.

· Small organisations will get buffeted by strong winds. Combating that requires dedicated resources and a never-break attitude.

· Networks are crucial but the resources may not have the time to give you.

· There are big players who do good work and then breakaway players who start new coalitions that plug the gaps. There is a niche here that more people can join.

· There are always more things that can be done. Nothing you can do will be the be-all, end-all.

· The division between thinking and doing is high and sometimes not addressed. This is the most interesting part for me.

It has been about an interesting and sometimes painful year. I might have to do a small pivot to adjust, but I think there is a corner in this world of policy for me. Whether that is as a researcher or as a policy proposer, I am not yet sure. All I know is that there is still much to be done if I am willing to do it.

This post is the beginning of the second iteration of A Year of Policy. In the coming weeks, I intend to delve into some books on nonviolence, policy, history, and politics. Just before I got my current posting, I launched an NGO that I then halted so as not to be in conflict. It was intended to engage in civic education. That, you know, is close to my heart. I will continue that work through this Substack for the foreseeable future.

See you next week, with a post on Gene Sharp’s book From Dictatorship to Democracy.