The National Peace Foundation – Institute for Scientific Policy Analysis (NPF/ISPA) is committed to advancing the art and science of policy-making in an increasingly complex and truth-challenged world.  We develop, apply, and teach others to use scientifically validated tools for assessing the stakes, facts, beliefs, and values influencing critical policy decisions.  This mission is pursued in a non-partisan spirit in the practical world where complex decisions have significant consequences and impact the public interest.

NPF/ISPA supports our primary mission of solving problems and preventing conflict through community peacebuilding and empowering citizens to build the institutions of civil society.   The projects in NPF's Policies that Work program area encompass two objectives: (1) Helping stakeholders (citizens) engage in a more complete and effective interface with the policymaking that will directly affect their lives, and (2) Helping policymakers develop policies that are informed by an adequate understanding of the facts and cognizant of the critical uncertainties that may cause policies to fail.

NPF/ISPA employs its methodologies, analytics and superbly qualified panels of scientists and other specialists to undertake independent fact-finding and analyses. We help policymakers navigate the complexities of creating policies that build robust civil society institutions. NPF/ISPA work helps policymakers understand the information that is the foundation of policy within the context of the stakes and values influencing that policy. Our goal is to quantify and enhance policymaker understanding of the capacity of foundation information to bear the weight of a policy decision given the stakes, and the uncertainties and unknowns that ultimately influence policy outcomes.

The Policies that Work program is currently engaged in the following major projects:

          Collaborative Obesity Research Evaluation Team (CORET) Project

          International Intellectual Property Rights Project - GIPC

          African Center of Health Excellence

          Ohrstrom Foundation - CORI Project