Advocacy Training

Advocacy is the art of persuasion and influencing policy change. It involves encouraging people and organisations to actively collaborate, make consensus-based decisions and develop key messages to enable all partners to sing from the same hymn sheet.

The Public Health Advocacy Institute (PHAI) provides public health professionals at all levels with an opportunity to improve essential advocacy skills, including effective preparation and planning, identifying critical evidence including that which the opposition may use and ideas on innovative advocacy strategies to persuade policy, in a supportive learning environment.

Participation in a PHAI workshop will give you an opportunity to work with and learn from experienced and skilled advocates who have the experience and expertise to help participants plan an advocacy program based on local issues.

Workshop Options

Advocacy 101
Advocacy in Action
Customised Advocacy
Advocacy Short Course
Community Based Advocacy
Getting Your Message Out
Healthy Homes

To present a strong, persuasive case to influence policy, health or environments, you need to sharpen several core advocacy skills. Our courses will assist you to do this.

A two-day advanced advocacy skills-based workshop where participants walk away with a planned advocacy program.

Customised advocacy skills workshops to develop ‘in-house’ advocacy programs for public health departments, organisations, or target groups.

5-day intensive advocacy workshop tailored to individual participant’s level of experience and personal advocacy goals.

This one-day course will provide the basic information and skills needed for community or volunteer groups to influence issues and local decisions or policy.

This one-day workshop focuses on the importance of generating a consensus-based key message and how to generate enthusiasm around those messages to influence.

Usually a two-day program, these workshops focus on the importance of health within the home, the key diseases related to a home environment and what actions can be taken to tackle these complex issues.

The workshops can be delivered anywhere in the Australasian region and are based on a very competitive user pays model.

Upcoming Training Opportunities

Four-day Advocacy in Action Short Course

11-14 March 2025 in Perth WA

Public health advocacy is not well understood yet it is a critical component of modern public health and health promotion. 

Recent Advocacy Training

Testimonials

5-day advocacy short course participants from 2018, WA
Participants from 2024 Brisbane one day workshop, Qld
Community advocacy workshop in Wodonga, Vic
Healthy homes workshop in Katherine, NT
Action shots from the training
Action shots from the training

Read about PHAI’s advocacy workshops and the community outcomes

Filling gaps – a case study in building advocacy capacity in the health promotion workforce by Melissa Stoneham, Lee Coller, Jacqueline Napolitano, Meg Scolyer & Christina Pollard

Using the media to enhance your advocacy

It’s important to get your key messages out to the right people to influence your cause. Media advocacy and digital advocacy including online campaigning is one strategy to advance advocacy initiatives.

The media’s reach to many, offers a powerful tool to inform and build support around your advocacy issue or ask. Media can also influence public attitudes and opinions on important public health matters. Today, most advocacy campaigns include an online component that includes a social media advocacy strategy.

There is a great section on using the media in the Advocacy in Action Toolkit, but here are a few tips for using the media.