Whether you’re communicating with funders to attract or retain funding for the work you do in HJP or are connecting with policy makers to share lessons from your work to help inform policy and law reform processes, here are some tips for HJP practitioners from Health Justice Australia’s Strategic Advocacy Manager, Kate Finch, about how to effectively engage.
Firstly, be clear about what you’d like to achieve from the engagement. Health Justice Australia’s Advocacy tools for health justice partnership is a useful resource to help you in this process. Secondly, make sure you are talking to the right people – identify who makes the decisions that relate to the relevant policy or funding area and seek out the people you would like in the room. Here are some more ideas for engaging with policy makers and funders.
Tips for engaging with policy makers
- If you want to highlight a systemic issue impacting on your clients, as well as describing the problem, be clear on the action you’re seeking.
- It can be helpful before any meeting to research and identify if the individual you’re meeting with has a position on the issue, and if they are a politician, what is their party position on the issue?
- Check the local context first and identify if there are other local organisations working on the issue that you might want to speak to and/or collaborate with in your advocacy.
- Engaging with policy makers is an opportunity to elevate the voices of those with lived and/or living experience who will likely be impacted by the action or change you are seeking. You can introduce those with lived experience directly or, if this isn’t possible, illustrate the experiences of the community to the policy makers with stories and examples. If they are from your client/s, you will likely have internal processes for confidentiality and consent to speak about their experience and expertise.
Tips for engaging with funders
- If you have a funding ask, identify what you need and when you need it by. Are you asking the funder to fund your whole program, or part of it? Are there other funders for the program? For example, you might focus on a particular funding round or population group that aligns with the funder’s priorities.
- Have clear examples of the impact of your work and, as mentioned above, consider how you can elevate the voices of people with lived and/or living experience of the complexity you are seeking to address.
- As with policy makers, it’s helpful to have an understanding of the priorities of the funder and how you can align with these.
Whether you are meeting in person or online, being prepared for the meeting with your key talking points is essential.
Have a follow up document that you can leave behind or email after the meeting. This should be a succinct one pager that summarises your key points, and most importantly your asks or recommendations, and outlines the next steps.
If you would like more information on policy advocacy in HJP, please contact Health Justice Australia’s Strategic Advocacy Manager, Kate Finch, at Kate.Finch@healthjustice.org.au.
