DPSC Stream 1 — IFCB Consortium (DAS lead)

Working title (form field, ≤250 chars)

The Self-Advocacy Workbench: national digital tools and a partner-hosted peer coach network that help people with disability prepare for plan meetings, reviews, complaints and big decisions — themselves, with peers beside them

DAS leads a national consortium turning deep NDIS plan-and-appeals expertise into participant-operated preparation tools (understand my plan, build my review case file, rehearse the conversation, plan a supported decision) plus a paid peer coach network hosted by established advocacy orgs in every region — remote-first because it's built from Alice Springs.

Project description (form field, ≤1,000 chars)

The Self-Advocacy Workbench gives people with disability across Australia practical tools and peer support to act on their own behalf. Guided digital pathways, co-designed with people with disability, walk a person step by step through understanding their NDIS plan, preparing for a plan meeting or reassessment, building their own internal review, making a complaint, and planning a supported decision. A rehearsal tool lets people practise the conversation before having it. None of it acts for the person: every pathway builds their own knowledge, skills and confidence. Consortium partners — established advocacy and self-advocacy organisations in each region, including First Nations partners — host trained, paid peer coaches who run small Workbench Circles where peers prepare together. Families and carers use a parallel pathway to support decisions without taking them over. Built remote-first from Central Australia, it works where connectivity and services are thinnest.

Activities

1. Build + operate the Workbench (DAS in-house): 6 participant-operated guided pathways, AI-assisted plain-language + rehearsal, WCAG, Easy Read/audio, offline-capable
2. Co-design + content authority: lived-experience panels per region, First Nations content stream (pending cultural review), legal-accuracy review by community legal partner
3. National Peer Coach Network: DAS curriculum + accreditation; partners host paid coaches running Workbench Circles (60+ coaches, 6+ jurisdictions by Y3)
4. Family/carer 'decision supporter' pathway (tech + partner-delivered)
5. Remote + First Nations delivery: NT anchor + NPYWC tri-state
6. Sector learning loop: open licensing of non-cultural content from Y4 via DANA network

Eligibility self-check

• Tools are participant-operated — never advising or acting for the person (§5.4 advocacy exclusion clear)
• Preparation capability ≠ information/referral — differentiated from Disability Gateway (information and referral only, its own self-description)
• ~43% of funds flow to partners — consortium substance, not pass-through
• Genuinely different activity class from the S1 individual app: national tools + partner network vs place-based program

• Darwin Community Legal Service (warm — current consortium)
• IADA (warm — current consortium)
• WOSCA (warm — current joint work)
• NPY Women's Council (candidate — tri-state remote)
• SACID (candidate)
• VALID Vic (cold — via DANA)
• Speak Out Tas (cold — via DANA)
• CID NSW (cold — via DANA)

REFUTERS (11 Jun): submit DESCOPED. 8 partners (3 cold) in 3 weeks won't happen. Its six pathways are S1A's six modules renamed, in front of the same panel — declare build consolidation. Never name an unsigned partner. See dossier §3.