Local Area Coordination - Role and PartnersA changing roleThe Local Area Coordinators in undertaking their services will vary their focus and effort on specific activities depending on the status of readiness and the agreements between State, Territory and Commonwealth governments to deliver the NDIS.

The core capabilities of Local Area CoordinatorsAn individual performing the role of a Local Area Coordinator must have a positive and contemporary attitude toward people with disability and a deep understanding and knowledge of disability and its impact on individuals, families and carers.

They must have an understanding of the rights of people with disability to be fully included and welcomed within their community and to have their individual requirements considered in the whole of community context. This will mean that they will use a strengths based approach to support and build family strategies. They will have an ability to work along-side individuals, and in partnership with families, carers and the community to build and strengthen capacity to achieve welcoming communities.

Local Area Coordinators will also have a strong connection and understanding of the local community, established relationships and the ability to influence to effect change within the community. This will enable them to build and nurture relationships at a personal, organisational and community level.

Local Area Coordinators will have highly developed one-on-one and public communication skills, relationship building, planning, negotiation and interpersonal skills. They will be entrusted with confidential and sensitive information and will treat this with the highest respect.

Values alignment of Partners in the CommunityThe Local Area Coordination function will be successful when it is implemented as a commitment to the values of the NDIS and the vision that the NDIS has for transforming the lives of people with disability.

It is essential that Partners in the Community are able to demonstrate commitment to the NDIS’s role in civil society. The NDIA expect Partners to demonstrate the alignment of their corporate values to that of the NDIS and their ability to apply this to their relationship with individuals in their day to day role and in their relationship with the NDIA as we strive to make the NDIS as effective as it can be over time.

This will require individual Local Area Coordinators to:

have positive values and assumptions about individuals, families and communities with safeguards as needed;

work alongside individuals and families so they can take control and be increasingly self-sufficient; and,

have a deep appreciation of the important role of families, friends and community in achieving a good life for people with a disability.

Delivery capabilityPartners must understand that Local Area Coordination is expected to deliver core capability for the NDIA in the context of an insurance scheme including efficient support for Participants in their interaction with the NDIS and a core focus on developing strategies and ideas that will build individual, family and community capacity, improve outcomes and moderate need for funded support.

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Local Area Coordination Partners will need to have a mature logistical capability to appoint a comprehensive and capable workforce that is reflective of the community and experienced in capacity building. We would expect Partners to mirror the NDIA’s commitment to becoming an exemplar employer of people with disability, reflect their communities’ cultural groups and to optimise the benefits that are generated by use of peer-based workers.

Partners will need to be able to work within our budget parameters and deliver outcomes consistent with the insurance principles.

The NDIA Partners will:

Bring community based skills and build a strong new diverse, skilled workforce to the NDIS which will strengthen social capital and better align the NDIS funded effort with existing community effort. In particular, we would expect Partners to commit to some degree of additionality in their workforce development strategy;

Provide meaningful ways to embed the voice of people with disability in their governance and delivery of the function and to guide consideration of future refinement of the Local Area Coordination function;

Understand the focus on outcomes for Participants and the community, consistent with recent reform recommendations relating to human services;

Recruit the required staff and establish an appropriate management and supervisory structure within defined Service Areas within the timeframes nominated by bilateral agreements;

Prioritise co-design of the approach to working with people, carers and families, and embedding this in the way Partners develop;

Take a collaborative approach, recognising what all services have to offer and working to harness and combine all the resources available to improve quality;

Recruit and develop staff for their values and ability to connect with people; and

Create an enabling environment for staff to work creatively and know they have the support to do things differently.

The NDIA knows that safety and quality are important. Partners in the Community will have:

Accreditation against quality and standard requirements of their state of operation and an ability to move to the national quality and safety framework over time;

Experience in driving service consistency and managing against an internal performance development system and external data transparency;

Systematic induction and training capabilities;

An open culture characterised by participation, feedback reviews and evaluations;

Deliberate investment in leadership, new ideas and partnerships;

Independent monitoring on national disability service standards; and

Strong care and protection framework for their staff and a commitment to their ongoing training.

Local Area Coordination Partners in the Community will also need to be able to demonstrate their knowledge and expertise in building inclusive communities. We expect this to be based on an embrace of the power of collaboration with the NDIA, people with disability, carers and families to deliver better outcomes for all. Partners will need to demonstrate experience in contributing to and developing joined up plans for building community capacity and enabling choice and control.

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