What are the most common barriers to effective policy implementation?

This is another area where the policy is "dead on arrival. Often times policy makers create policies that are not fit for purpose and have not adapted them to fit the stakeholders. This can happen when policy makers rather than design a policy from scratch copy a policy from another jurisdiction without proper adaptation for the target population. That a policy worked in a homogenous and developed nation like UK for instance means it most likely will not work in a heterogenous and developing nation like Nigeria without proper re-design and adaptation.

There is no dearth of ideas around us but the understanding of it and the ultimate goal we want to achieve through these policies. Any stakeholder can look at these policies and the desired outcome through their own lenses and see them as unrealistic, vague or obsolete and may wish to tweak it. However, for an idea to "happen" and sustain, we should have multi-sectoral approach and be cognizant that any idea should be politically acceptable, socially desirable, technologically feasible, financially viable, legally tenable, and administratively doable. Else it would just remain an idea.

It is important to consider feasibility when establishing policy goals. Scholarship on the relationship between policymakers and those public servants who will be tasked with implementing said policy (i.e. "street-level bureaucrats") has found that executive-level leaders are at risk of creating unrealistic policy goals due to their lack of close proximity to the target population and stakeholders. Without a clear understanding of the situation on the ground, the designed policy may fall short in practice, or fail to live up to expectations. This risk highlights the importance of community town hall meetings, focus groups, and other information gathering efforts to establish factual, realistic policy goals.

Let's start a little differently in the approach to this question. Policy options are drafted by policy specialists to present options to Ministers to make a decision. Those decision points in Canada are linked to Mandate priorities. An option is chosen and is implemented through legislation/regulations, which provides parameters in law to policy and implementation. This process requires financial approvals and implementation cost scrutiny. The law is sometimes intentionally ambiguous to provide flexibility (and sometimes not). All policy is rooted in what the law enables or not. Perhaps it is not that the goals that are vague, but that the interpretation for implementation are specific to the moment and not long term. Need to collaborate!

In this space, it is very important to identify the capacity of street-level bureaucrats implementing policy as well as the policy's target audience/beneficiary. Many SLBs work in ways to create effective, efficient, and quick routines that ensure safety and protect one's mental health. Many working in this space burnout because of the level of need, the requirements of their job, turnover, and other changes that impede effective implementation that is the 'same', or as much as possible, in a region over time. Implementation can suffer because of lack of continuity of staff, shared understanding/values and lack of connection with those in these target groups.

I agree, through out my experience lack of qualified human resources with inadequate skills always delayed reforms in our case.

Resistance from stakeholders is a major hindrance to policy implementation. In my experience this resistance often exists where the policy makers or promoters have failed to consult and carry out adequate advocacy among stakeholders. At the stage of policy design proper segmentation using gender analysis, intersectionality and other tools should be done to ensure that all stakeholder groups are noted and engaged. This will ensure the buy in of all groups and reduce such opposition. For instance a policy intervention aimed at poor rural women should also involve engagement with their spouses so that they do not act as saboteurs.

Public policymaking is always made to be a very simple process by outsiders, which clearly has so many layers and biases kicking in ranging from information bias to personal bias and to preferences bias) political/social/regional/religious), not understanding that this is a very complex process that involves many participants with different roles, interests, and resources. The soul of public policy is the very reason of who gets what, why, and what difference it makes.