The National Self-Advocacy Knowledge and Implementation Hub (SAKH) Project is a three-year national initiative. It started in June 2024 and finishes in June 2027.
The project has funding from the Department of Social Services through the Information Linkages and Capacity Building (ILC) Grant Program.
The SAKH Project strengthens and empowers the self-advocacy movement in Australia.
This project runs by a national consortium of leading organisations. A consortium is a group of organisations working together.
Our consortium partners are:
- Disability Advocacy Network Australia (DANA) and
- Swinburne University of Technology – Centre for Social Impact
Inclusion Australia’s member organisations are working on the project.
- Council for Intellectual Disability (CID) – New South Wales
- Victorian Advocacy League for Individuals with Disability (VALID) – Victoria
- Parent to Parent (P2P) – Queensland
- Speak Out Advocacy – Tasmania
- South Australian Council on Intellectual Disability (SACID) – South Australia
- Developmental Disability Western Australia (DDWA) – Western Australia
- ACT Down Syndrome & Intellectual Disability Australia (ACT DSID) – ACT
- Inclusion Northern Territory (INT) – Northern Territory.
At the centre of this work is a new Self-Advocacy Hub, which will lead four major areas of focus:
1. Leadership
The Hub will provide national leadership in best-practice self-advocacy. This includes:
- Evidence-based principles and frameworks
- A community of practice for self-advocacy leaders
- Mentoring and leadership opportunities for people with intellectual disability
2. Capacity Building
The Hub will support existing and emerging self-advocacy organisations through:
- A central online resource hub
- A national advice line (email-based)
- A new e-learning course for supporters of self-advocates
- Expert guidance on developing sustainable funding models
3. Connection
The Hub will create stronger links across the self-advocacy and disability sectors by:
- Providing a referral pathway to connect people with local networks
- Supporting collaboration and shared learning across organisations
- Helping reduce duplication of resources and effort
4. Outcomes Measurement
The Hub will work alongside people with an intellectual disability to co-design a way of checking what we have done has worked. We want to make sure The Hub has long-term impact.
This important project will help ensure that people with an intellectual disability have a strong national self-advocacy movement.
To get the latest news, stories, resources, and ways to get involved, sign up to our newsletter today!