The Australian Democracy Network has now trained more than 100 people from a wide range of organisations in government advocacy.

The Australian Democracy Network (ADN), which runs Government Relations Masterclasses to build the capability of not-for-profit advocates to engage effectively with government, has now passed its 100 advocates trained milestone with participants from around the country working on issues from effective health and disability care to climate change and the right to protest. Getting our communities' perspectives and expertise into decision making processes gets better outcomes for all and makes democracy stronger.

The 100+ ADN trainees come from diverse community organisations nationally working on health, climate change, the environment, support for those with disabilities, First Nations justice, childcare, animal rights, front line services such as legal centres, domestic violence support services and others who want to complement their services by advocating for better policy outcomes.

Participants from all the ADN trainings say they feel much more confident to advocate to government and understand government processes and procedures as well as tactical opportunities to influence legislation.

The ADN’s most recent training was a collaboration with the indigenous youth organisation Seed Mob and the Australian Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC) to bring young people to Australian Parliament House to train and meet with government ministers and elected officials, the first time the organisation has run a dedicated training for young advocates.

Saffron Zommer at the ADN says she and her team are, "really proud to help get more young people's voices into the halls of power.” She says the organisation is now thinking about what other under-represented groups we could support in the same way."

You can support the work of the ADN via their online donation page, and all donations are tax deductible.