Disability Advocacy Network Australia & Australian Progress

The project is led by a Steering Committee of disability advocacy and messaging experts, including El Gibbs, Director of Policy and Advocacy, Disability Advocacy Network Australia (DANA); Kelly Cox, Senior Policy Officer and NDIS Lead, First Peoples Disability Network (FPDN); Kirsten Deane, Deputy Director, Melbourne Disability Institute; Stephen Ellis, General Manager, Clue, and DANA Board Director; and Elise Dalley, Acting Co-Executive Director, Australian Progress.
Disability Advocacy Network Australia (DANA) and Australian Progress provide organisational support and expertise to the project.

ABOUT DISABILITY ADVOCACY NETWORK AUSTRALIA
With a vision of a nation that includes and values people with disabilities and respects human
rights for all, Disability Advocacy Network Australia’s (DANA) purpose is to strengthen, support
and provide a collective voice for disability advocacy organisations across Australia that
advocate for and with people with disability.
DANA achieves this by:
– Promoting the role and value of independent disability advocacy,
– Providing a collective voice for members,
– Providing communication and information sharing between disability advocacy
organisations,
– Providing support and development for members, staff and volunteers of disability
advocacy organisations,
– Building the evidence base to demonstrate the value of disability advocacy,
– Promoting the human rights, needs, value and diversity of people with disabilities.
DANA has a membership of almost 80 independent advocacy organisations who operate
across Australia, and offers advocacy in a variety of ways to suit different communities of
people with disability, including individual, systemic, citizen, self, legal and family advocacy all
playing a vital role in ensuring people with disability are included in the community, and most
importantly, in decisions affecting their lives.

ABOUT AUSTRALIAN PROGRESS
Australian Progress plays a unique role across the breadth of civil society, building the
capacity of social change organisations and movements to advocate and win.
To realise our vision for a more just, equitable and sustainable society, underpinned by an
engaged democracy and civil society, we’re building a civil society where organisations and
movements are capable, connected, innovative and dedicated to centring lived expertise to
create systemic change on our most pressing social issues.
We draw on global thought-leaders and best practice to:
– Build the skills of social change leaders – equipping them with cutting-edge
leadership and advocacy skills.
– Foster community and connections – building relationships, sharing knowledge, and
inspiring courage in our network of 10,000+ changemakers and 1,000+ organisations.
– Drive shared action – growing the collective impact of the sector by filling strategic
gaps, incubating new organisations and approaches to creating change, amplifying
the voices of marginalised communities and leading cross-sector message research.

Australian Progress has a history of leading and supporting cross-sector message research
projects to shift national dialogue, most recently on First Nations self-determination and
justice with Passing the Message Stick, and previously on issues including economic justice,
refugee rights and climate.

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