This month delegates from the 18 Disability Support Organisations funded under the NDIA DSO Capacity Building Project to run peer support networks across Australia, met in Melbourne.
This is the fourth time the group has met together in one place, and is both a peer network and a community of practice.
At this month’s event, the group heard from the NDIA ILC team about the ILC Outcomes framework.Then each DSO shared their experiences of the project in terms of progress, learnings and challenges.
From the material, the DSOs then explored how some of the emerging issues could be moved forward. Issues included sustainability,the range of skills involved in facilitation, how to support networks to get their momentum and keep it, and how to connect to people whose situations make it hard for them to reach us (beautifully captured in the poster below).
The message was clear: peer networks are doing great things and bring many benefits to members.It was also clear that collaboration and a collective voice was key:
One participant stated that the workshop ‘really illuminated the benefits of cross fertilisation of knowledge and experience with the wider sector’.
Another said: ‘it was a very successful day and a welcome introduction to many of the DSOs from other states.’
