Our Systemic Advocacy Goal
Positive Life NSW is an effective advocacy organisation that builds powerful coalitions, harnesses evidence and creates supportive environments that improve life for people with HIV, their partners and communities.
How we will do it:
Positive Life NSW uses a range of advocacy tools to improve access to services for people with HIV in New South Wales.
The operating principles below describe how we will work with people, including people with HIV, organisations and government, to achieve our advocacy goals.
The principles also describe how we will measure if we have made a difference to the quality of life of people with HIV in NSW.
Systemic Advocacy Operating Principles:
1.0 Public Policy Environment
We will:
- Keep abreast of relevant state and federal policy initiatives.
- Seek to positively influence public policy development and implementation by actively promoting the needs of people with HIV in NSW and, where appropriate, within Australia.
- Utilise meetings and forums with government, non-government and community sector stakeholders to build and strengthen our relationships, indentify issues, and profile our advocacy work.
- Frame our work within the targets and objectives of the NSW HIV Strategy 2006-2010, the National Strategy and other relevant state and National health strategies, as appropriate.
- Actively participate in reviews of relevant NSW policy.
2.0 Credible Evidence
We will:
- Use clinical and social research study findings to identify and inform population issues and need.
- Request specific data analyses from clinical and social researchers, as required, to focus emerging issues.
- Ensure our work is informed by experience of people with HIV (gathered from Positive Life and HIV sector projects) and ensure that those sector projects (in turn) have access to clinical and social research findings.
3.0 Consultation
We will:
Consult with the broadest range of people with HIV in NSW government and non- government, clinical service and community services to:
- Encourage participation
- Inform our advocacy work
- Provide opportunity for feedback and discussion
- Obtain endorsement
- Enable community mobilisation
- Encourage partnerships where appropriate
4.0 Collaboration
We will:
- Collaborate and work closely with sector agencies and service providers – both government and non-government – in pursuit of agreed and shared advocacy and policy goals including: NSW Health AIDB, ACON, BGF, PozHets, MHAHS, Area Health Services, HARP Sector, HIV clinical and social research centres, human rights and related agencies, AHMRC, ASHM and other clinicians, HIV positive support organisations across NSW, NAPWA, AFAO, and people with HIV.
- Develop and maintain strong, respectful and collegiate relationships with sector agencies and service providers.
- Provide ongoing feedback about our advocacy priorities and work to update our partners and constituents about our advocacy work.
- Advocate for evaluation and ongoing improvement of state-wide HIV programs and services by area health services and community sector partners.
- Work with response partners and health providers to ensure greater access to mainstream services by people with HIV, where appropriate.
- Assist the evaluation of services by conducting or supporting user satisfaction surveys to support service evaluation.
6.0 Communication
We will:
- Profile the advocacy projects work by strategically using a range of communication formats including: E-news, Talkabout, SSO, Positive Life website and other relevant community and mainstream media. Build strong networks and coalitions with people with HIV and community sector organisations.
- Use public forums to identify issues, increase participation, mobilise public opinion and disseminate information.
- Provide timely feedback to consultation, discussion and focus group participants about the impact of their contribution and the progress of advocacy projects generally.
- Develop and implement a website-based capacity to provide ongoing interactive opportunity for PLWHA to ‘have their say’ about the work of the advocacy project.
- Based upon data and case studies collected from consultation with people with HIV, researches, and relevant community sector partners, develop public position papers that articulate policy options and provide opportunity for feedback and discussion by stakeholders.
- Consult with people with HIV, researches, and relevant community sector partners to develop (or jointly develop) public submissions that advocate for people with HIV in NSW.
7.0 Measuring outcomes
We will:
- Monitor the quality and quantity of published submissions and policy responses.
- Develop a process to prioritise existing and emerging advocacy issues, manage workload and annually incorporate priorities into our advocacy work plan.
- Evaluate the quality and effectiveness of our relationships with people with HIV and sector partners including feedback mechanisms.
- Develop and implement an evaluation process that regularly measures the impact of our advocacy activities for people with HIV.
For Further information please contact:
Lance Feeney
Senior Project Officer
Systemic Advocacy
Positive Life NSW
Phone: (02) 9361 6011
Email: lancef@positivelife.org.au