Dr Joanne Flavel
Advocacy is key to improving public health through influence on health policy.
The importance of advocacy is highlighted through the inclusion of advocacy as a key competency by the International Union for Health Promotion and Education and the World Health Organization.
The Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA) have today released a resource that aims to assist students and early career professionals to get started with advocacy for public health and health promotion. We know that it can be daunting not knowing how to start and hope this resource will be of assistance.
In this blog, we highlight a few key points for those wanting to get involved with advocacy.
What is advocacy?
The aim of all forms of advocacy is to influence policy.
The key components of any advocacy are a call to action, which are specific requests or asks for action that are evidence-based and offer solutions to policy related problems.
The resource we have developed focuses on advocacy submissions because these are one of the main advocacy activities contributed to by PHAA and Australian Health Promotion Association (AHPA) members.
How to find calls for advocacy submissions
Calls for advocacy submissions are known as open consultations, and there are many websites that list them.
This includes government sites listing national consultations and open consultations in each state and territory.
The good news is – you don’t need to search for open consultations on these many websites.
If you become a member of PHAA or AHPA, we’ll compile a list of current open consultations and send it directly to your email.
Members can find the list of open consultations at national and state/territory levels in the weekly PHAA newsletter, The Pump, under the heading ‘Submissions on our radar’; and in AHPA’s monthly National Bulletin under the heading ‘Advocacy Opportunities’.
How to get involved
Keep an eye on the lists of open consultations to identify topics you have knowledge and/or experience in.
Send an expression of interest in contributing to your local branch for state/territory submissions, or to the PHAA National Office for national submissions.
How to write an effective submission
A common mistake is to write unstructured thoughts and recommendations on the topic of the submission (this is a mistake I made when learning to contribute to advocacy submissions).
Each open consultation includes a list of questions called Terms of Reference, which identify the focus of the consultation. Effective submissions are written as responses to these terms.
Align your submissions with the main messages and positions of existing policies by PHAA or AHPA.
Existing policies can provide strong arguments and evidence to include in advocacy submissions. These are available on the PHAA and AHPA websites.
Focus on your call to action, keep your writing evidence-based to support the asks included in the submission, and avoid combative language.
It is OK to not respond to all Terms of Reference.
Only respond to those you have expertise in, and keep in mind that it can help to endorse the work of other organisations that are authorities (e.g. National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation).
It’s better to have a short submission with strong, evidence-based responses to some Terms of Reference, than a longer submission that responds to all but has some uncertain responses.
Tips for contributing to advocacy submissions
Look at completed advocacy submissions to get an idea of how these are structured, the kind of language used, and the text that is included in every submission. These are available on the PHAA and AHPA websites.
Begin with an outline that includes the Terms of Reference and any text that you identify is included in all PHAA or AHPA submissions.
Look for past submissions on similar topics published by other organisations (e.g. ACOSS, NACCHO).
Looking at recommendations other organisations have made is a good way to contribute when learning – but always explicitly acknowledge where the text is endorsing the work of others.
Work on a submission as a group that includes somebody with experience in writing submissions. Shadowing somebody who has experience can be a great way to learn what is involved.
My perspective on advocacy
I knew nothing about contributing to advocacy and policy writing before I joined PHAA in 2019.
I began to see its importance once I joined the PHAA SA executive committee in 2020, and especially when I joined the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Special Interest Group (DEI SIG) in 2021.
I began contributing to PHAA advocacy submissions in 2021, uncertain at first, but encouraged by more experienced members of the SA branch and DEI SIG committees, and the PHAA policy team.
I learned quickly by putting my hand up to contribute to open consultations in my areas of expertise (social determinants of health and health equity) and found contributing to advocacy submissions to be a valuable use of my time and expertise.
I am now comfortable leading submission writing and have done so for PHAA and AHPA.
The opportunity to learn about contributing to advocacy is one of the most valuable skill development areas offered by PHAA and AHPA.
It is a skill not often taught in degrees, yet itis vital to add to the voices asking for change.
I will forever be grateful to the PHAA policy team, the AHPA leadership and the generous PHAA and AHPA volunteers who have contributed to my learning about writing for advocacy.
My goal now, and motivation in developing this resource, is to pass on these learnings to other PHAA and AHPA members and people working in public health and health promotion.
Access the advocacy resource here.
Image: Polina Tankilevich via Canva
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