ACCREDITATION AND CERTIFICATION OF PUBLIC POLICY ADVOCATES

There is considerable confusion about the similarities, differences and relationships between the words “accreditation”, “registration” and “certification”. They are not quite the same thing. They all have different meanings.

The International Organization for Standardization’s (ISO) Council Committee on Conformity Assessment has attempted to resolve the semantics problem by standardizing the following definitions:

Accreditation: Procedure by which an authoritative body, gives formal recognition that a body or person is competent to carry out specific tasks.

Registration: Procedure by which a body indicates relevant characteristics of a product, process or service, or particulars of a body, or person, in an appropriate public available list.

Certification: Procedure by which a third party gives written assurance (certificate of conformity) that a product, process or service conforms to specific requirements.

Applying the above definitions within the context of the European Union, it becomes quite obvious that the European Union does NOT have an accreditation system of public policy advocates but a registration system i.e. the Transparency Register. When used in EU jargon  'Accreditation’ is a practical arrangement and it cannot be used as proof of professional qualifications of journalists, or anyone else for that matter.

Based on this consideration, when we refer to 'Accredited Public Policy Advocates to the European Union', what we are really talking about are self-employed individuals and/or organisations whose names appear (are registered) in the Transparency Register. Such a registration to be certain does not imply proof of qualifications. Originally AALEP was called Association of Accredited Lobbyists to the European Parliament following the term used by the European Parliament. Following the establishment at EU level of the Transparency Register AALEP was renamed Association of Accredited Lobbyists to the European Union. In order to reflect a more encompassing activity today AALEP refers to Public Policy Advocates but kept the acronym AALEP because it is well recognized brand that has accumulated much goodwill over the years.

As stated in the Transparency Register ‘ Registering your organization in the Transparency Register and committing it to ensure a full respect of the code of conduct by yourself, your employees, your members or representatives will be a public indication that your organisation accepts to ‘play by the rules’ and to interact with the European institutions in full transparency. It will also make public the fact that you are active in contributing to the EU processes, thus ensuring that your views, your interests or those which you represent are made known to the EU decision-makers.   Agents and Members of the European institutions will be able to ensure, when you contact them or when you communicate with them, that they are interacting with an organisation which respects democracy and accepts to provide a minimum amount of information for all citizens to know who is participating in the EU processes.' As can be seen there is no reference at all to any kind of demonstration of qualification.

In the absence of any credible public accreditation and certification body issuing credentials and/or defining standards in the field of public policy advocacy at EU level, AALEP as a professional association (not academia working in blue sky)) took it upon itself to develop an Executive Certificate in Public Policy Advocacy that provides a recognition for acceptable practices and competencies based on an-depth understanding of public policy advocacy.

Certification is evidence of someone’s commitment to public policy advocacy as a profession. The Executive Certificate in Public Policy Advocacy delivered by AALEP is awarded to individuals who have met global standards of performance that includes professional standards in technical competency, ethics, public policy advocacy competencies, professional behaviour, client and project management and personal conduct.

AALEP Public Policy Advocacy Competency Framework

An effective Public Policy Advocate requires a balance of behaviour, skills and knowledge.

Knowledge and Capacity: Fact-based knowledge of technical skills, public policy advocacy understanding, public policy advocacy insight and external awareness.

Public Policy Advocacy Competencies: These are the core public policy advocacy skills, tools and techniques which are essential in delivering public policy advocacy services

Public Policy Advocacy skills and behaviour and ethics: These define the professional skills, behaviours and attitudes which act as ‘enablers’ in achieving capability, knowledge and advocacy competence. They establish the level of credibility and trust between the Client and the Public Policy Advocate.

In order to increase the visbility of its certification and continue to build the reputation of the professional standards for Public Policy Advocates, work is under way by AALEP to become accredited as an ISO/IEC 17024: 2012 certifying body which conforms to rigorous impartiality and condidentiality requirements for the certification of individuals.

AALEP's Executive Certificate in Public Policy Advocacy is based on 3 essential components:

1. Learning Objectives (what we want students to know how to do upon completion of the course)
2. Assessment (what kind of tasks will reveal whether students have achieved the learning objectives)
3. Instructional Strategies (activities in and out of class to reinforce learning objectives and prepare students for assessments)