Many peer organisations are user-led initiatives. They share a strong rights based philosophy and take form creatively out of need for information, advocacy and advice. Peer organisations operate in the highly convoluted and constantly shifting disability sector. Limited and at times non-existent funding can characterise this and, as such, complicate opportunities for them to continue their good work. Many of these establishments have transformed from parent groups or other informal support groups into the peer organisations running today. With a history of enthusiasm rather than business acumen, it is likely many such entities struggle to marshal the resources they need to continue offering excellent peer programs at the coalface.
The NDIA and its ILC team greatly value the user-led movement and its role within the sector. The ILC grants, announced in December 2018, for organisations that meet the ‘DPFO’ (‘Disabled People and Families Organisation’) eligibility criteria, evidences this. Up to $19.9 million (including GST) ($18.09 million GST Excl.) in total was available in this first round. The grant announcement noted it was the first of several initiatives to support organisations across Australia led by people with disability, for people with disability. In their documentation, the ILC team stated that:
In May 2018 the Social Policy Research Centre (SPRC) published a practice review of current peer support programs across Australia (Davy, Fisher and Wehbe, 2018). The review stated there was a lack of resources and information sharing opportunities across the peer support sector. Findings indicated the unmet need of a national support system or organisation to facilitate knowledge-sharing and a community of practice amongst peer support providers to provide resources and facilitate information sharing. The need for continued sharing of knowledge, and regarding strategies for meeting gaps in current peer support provision, such as evaluation, was identified. To date, a clear outcome from this recommendation has yet to emerge.
Within this training package, we are directing our attention toward organisations which are delivering peer support programs that are, or could be, funded within the Information, Linkages and Capacity Building (ILC) grant program dispensed by the NDIA. It is assumed all of these organisations are underpinned by a deep-seated rights value base, together with an emphasis on developing the personal capacity of their attendees. However, we also need to think about ways that these valuable organisations can themselves build their own capacity. Given their history of evolving from a small group of passionate people living with disability, and frequently their family members and supporters, the volunteer led Boards and Committees operating peer organisations may not have significant experience in business or more formal community development. This presents the question, how do we preserve this focus on lived experience whilst also enabling these organisations to gather the information they need to illustrate their success, in anticipation of ensuring their longevity?
The SPRC practice review (2018) of peer support programs found that feedback and evaluation mechanisms were applied unevenly across the peer support providers they reviewed. While some gathered participant feedback informally and sporadically, others had developed formal strategies for eliciting feedback from participants and peer leaders. The report asserts that peer leaders found feedback and evaluation to be a useful way to track participant experience and garner required feedback/evidence. Despite this, many are unable to design and implement an adequate system. The review found that some peer organisations happen to have embedded expertise, while most find it challenging to cultivate formal mechanisms for capturing participant feedback, program data and outcomes. The review researchers concluded that peer organisations illustrated:
Within this training package, we are directing our attention toward organisations which are delivering peer support programs that are, or could be, funded within the Information, Linkages and Capacity Building (ILC) grant program dispensed by the NDIA. It is assumed all of these organisations are underpinned by a deep-seated rights value base, together with an emphasis on developing the personal capacity of their attendees. However, we also need to think about ways that these valuable organisations can themselves build their own capacity. Given their history of evolving from a small group of passionate people living with disability, and frequently their family members and supporters, the volunteer led Boards and Committees operating peer organisations may not have significant experience in business or more formal community development. This presents the question, how do we preserve this focus on lived experience whilst also enabling these organisations to gather the information they need to illustrate their success, in anticipation of ensuring their longevity?
The SPRC practice review (2018) of peer support programs found that feedback and evaluation mechanisms were applied unevenly across the peer support providers they reviewed. While some gathered participant feedback informally and sporadically, others had developed formal strategies for eliciting feedback from participants and peer leaders. The report asserts that peer leaders found feedback and evaluation to be a useful way to track participant experience and garner required feedback/evidence. Despite this, many are unable to design and implement an adequate system. The review found that some peer organisations happen to have embedded expertise, while most find it challenging to cultivate formal mechanisms for capturing participant feedback, program data and outcomes. The review researchers concluded that peer organisations illustrated:
This resource addresses some of these recommendations. The author of these materials was a family member (and Carer) of a person with acquired disability and developed the evaluation system within the Families4Families ABI Peer Support Network over a number of years, centred on her experience as an Accounting Academic specialising in strategic performance evaluation and with a Doctorate in that field. Resources developed have benefited enormously from the strong input from an editor with lived experience of disability and roles within peer support programs for many years. It is hoped that future investments will enable further learning opportunities in this space, including face to face sessions and access to ongoing consultancy support.