FAQs

NCDA stands for the ‘National Centre for Disability Advocacy’.

The NCDA runs an online website and partner portal. We are a project of Disability Advocacy Network Australia (DANA) and our team work remotely. NCDA staff are located all over Australia.

The NCDA aims to improve access to and quality of individual advocacy services in Australia.

The NCDA has three main functions;

• Capacity building
• Identifying and addressing unmet demand and need
• Identifying and elevating systemic advocacy issues

It is not the intention of the NCDA to prescribe a universal model of advocacy that all advocacy organisations are to follow. The aim of the NCDA is to enhance the sector through highlighting and presenting examples of best practice that organisations may be able to apply within their context.

The NCDA provides support to disability advocacy providers who provide all types of advocacy including self-advocacy, peer advocacy, citizen advocacy, family advocacy, legal advocacy, individual advocacy and systemic advocacy.

The priorities and activities of the NCDA were designed in close consultation with the disability advocacy sector and other relevant stakeholders such as the Older Persons Advocacy Network (OPAN), the state-based Councils of Social Service and other relevant not-for-profit organisations.

The consultation process provided an opportunity for the NCDA to hear directly from those who will benefit from the work of the NCDA around how the NCDA could best support their work.

Hopefully every person who needs to access disability advocacy within Australia. We want to build the awareness of what disability advocacy is and who delivers it within Australia. We also want to support advocates and advocacy organisations to improve the quality of services being delivered and we will do this by spotlighting good and best practice models from both inside and outside of the disability advocacy sector. We will be highlighting the amazing work disability advocates and disability advocacy organisations are doing across the country.

The ‘capacity building’ function of the NCDA is for independent disability advocacy organisations who are funded by the Department of Social Services (DSS) ‘National Disability Advocacy Program’ (NDAP). There are currently 60 NDAP funded providers who are located all over Australia in every state and territory.

It is best to contact one of our team at ncda@dana.org.au for any questions or queries.