Statement of Intent 2006 - Communities, Hapu and Iwi

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High Level Outcome

Communities, hapu and iwi are able to determine and achieve their vital and unique social, economic and cultural goals for the betterment of New Zealand.

Context

Community life makes an important contribution to the social wellbeing of individuals, families and whanau. Communities, hapu and iwi provide support, preserve cultural practices, and enable links within and between individuals, families - young and old, and groups. Community and voluntary workers are often the first to know when families experience new issues or problems.

Community organisations deliver many social services, drawing on economic and social capital to do so. Social capital is made up of the networks, shared values, and trust and support within the community.

We see high levels of social capital in communities that get involved in the decisions, policies, and services that affect them. We also see high levels of social capital in communities that benefit from quality services from groups from within the community, and in those that support families to be independent and resilient.

The community and voluntary sector provides many services and activities that are important to New Zealand’s social, economic, environmental and cultural wellbeing. Government agencies and community organisations depend on each other to achieve their mutual goals. It is important that both sectors share information and continue their efforts to build understanding and collaboration.

The relationship between the Government and community sector has improved in recent years. However, to ensure that there are no barriers to good decision making, resourcing, and relationship building, information about the community voluntary sector needs to be up-to-date and effective.

We need to:

create opportunities for communication and relationship development between government agencies and the community and voluntary sector, so there is good understanding of each other’s needs and priorities
improve the day-to-day practices of government agencies, so funding arrangements can ensure accountability without imposing unnecessary costs.

We support community and voluntary organisations through providing information, research, capacity building projects, and partnerships. We want to ensure through these means that the sector has strong input into policy and practice.

We also need to ensure our advice reflects the interests of specific communities such as people with disabilities, senior citizens, Maori and ethnic groups. We need to address negative health and social outcomes within these groups, and support members to participate in New Zealand’s social and economic life.

The Office for Community and Voluntary Sector was established in September 2003 to help develop good working relationships between government agencies and the community and voluntary sector. The Office’s primary purpose is to advise on the overall state of the relationship between government agencies and the sector, and to promote good practice by government agencies.

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Our Role

To contribute to strong and self-determining communities, hapu and iwi, the Ministry:

assists families and communities to access the information they need to thrive
works to build social capital in communities
provides information on resources available to support the development of community and voluntary organisations
provides policy advice on strengthening communities
creates partnerships with local government and community-based organisations to meet local needs

From 1 July 2006, Child, Youth and Family will become part of the Ministry (refer to the Children and Young People and Child, Youth and Family sections).

Our focus for the next three years

The main focus of our work for the next three years will be on: improving our understanding of New Zealand’s communities and community organisations; encouraging community involvement in decision making, policy development and service delivery; ensuring community-based services are consistent, effective and accessible; and continuing to improve government agencies’ relationships with the community and voluntary sector.

We will continue work to improve funding and contracting arrangements, strengthen the capability of community organisations that provide social services, and provide the information and initiatives that help build stronger communities.

Work underway within the Office for the Community and Voluntary Sector includes:

maintaining the Good Practice Participate and Good Practice Funding websites which are designed to help public servants engage successfully with community, voluntary and Maori organisations
providing Good Practice in Action seminars and workshops for government officials. These seminars aim to improve the skills of public servants when they engage with communities
working with the State Services Commission on a scheme to enable staff secondments between the government and community and voluntary sectors
promoting Keeping it Legal, that helps community and voluntary organisations to understand their legal obligations and liabilities.

Funding and Contracting

We will continue to develop funding and contracting practices that provide a good balance between ensuring accountability and minimising compliance costs, particularly for smaller organisations. This is essential for us to fully support the delivery of high-quality social services. We are working towards:

funding arrangements that support professional development for the social services workforce
flexible funding, so service providers can negotiate changes to contracts mid-stream if needed
more funding decision being made at regional or local levels
better co-ordination across funding providers
integrated, joined-up funding arrangements where appropriate.

Capacity Building

We are developing a co-ordinated plan for our work to strengthen the community and voluntary organisations within the social services sector. The plan will draw together work underway, identifying gaps and areas we need to focus on more. It will show what we need to do not to only strengthen the sector but also support it to sustain that strength.

Many of our initiatives have a dual purpose: to improve the wellbeing of specific communities, such as Pacific people, and migrants and refugees; and to build the capacity of the organisations that are providing the services to these communities. By the means of their delivery, these initiatives strengthen leadership, infrastructure, workforce development, and communication channels within the sector. Three examples are:

Strong Pacific Families – this initiative aims to reduce the incidence of family violence in Pacific communities through education, awareness and community actions. It involves collaboration between government agencies, community organisations, and Pacific communities, and encourages communities to develop their own strategies and action plans to overcome family violence.
Refugee and Migrant: Settling In Project – this whole-of-government initiative includes: providing social services to new refugees and migrants; assisting refugee and migrant communities to build their knowledge and capacity; and leading inter-sectoral work to address problems within their communities.
Community Initiatives Fund – this fund provides support for innovative social development projects run in communities by community leaders. The projects aim to make a tangible and positive difference for communities and families.

Other initiatives are more specifically focused on building the capacity of the community and voluntary sector. They include:

211 Directory – this online directory provides access to over 4,000 family- and community- related services, programmes and resources throughout New Zealand.
Heartland Services – this initiative provides “one-stop-shop” centres in rural and provincial communities around New Zealand, where government and community agencies make their services available. In some locations Heartland Services also brings together under one roof a range of community support services. A 2004 evaluation of the Services showed that co-ordination and information sharing among agencies has improved as a result.
The Non-Government Organisation Roadmap – this project involves reviewing the partial funding model, examining service costing, and continuing to implement the NGO Family Support Services Workforce Programme for Action.
Study Awards - these are available for employees of non-government organisations who want to complete a social work qualification that will qualify them for social worker registration, and for Family Start employees, covering the disciplines of social services, early childhood education and health.
Capacity Building – improving access to organisational development information and support that assists not-for-profit organisations to be effective and viable. Family and Community Services are working to provide written guides and investigate options for improving the availability of face-to-face support.

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Seeing results

The results we aim to achieve, now and over the long term, are that:

communities get good services, and community organisations get information, resources, and support for good service delivery
relationships between the government and non-government sectors keep growing and improving
investment continues in the ability of the two sectors to work well together, at national, regional and local levels
good communication, information sharing, and service co-ordination continues and improve between agencies in our communities.

The capacity and self-reliance of communities, hapu and iwi and their organisations are enhanced

We work directly with service providers across the social sector, including providers of child and family, disability, youth transitions, employment, childcare, and aged care services. Working in partnership with these providers enables us to tailor and co-ordinate services, and get support and buy-in from communities.

These partnerships also provide opportunities to build the capacity and self-reliance of community and voluntary organisations, such as:

completing a stocktake of resources to support the development of community and voluntary organisations
supporting the sector’s work to share knowledge and experience across the sector and with Government
working with the Department of Internal Affairs to advise Ministers on the role and operations of the Charities Commission.

To get a more complete picture of our interactions with the community and voluntary sector, we will continue developing a database that identifies groups with particular interests. The database will also help us capture and share information about a broad and very diverse sector.

Our work to improve funding and contracting models will further contribute to capacity-building in communities, hapu and iwi, and to quality service delivery.

Local Services Mapping
Local Services Mapping is a community-wide approach to improving services for families and communities. Local and central government agencies work with communities to undertake a stocktake of services and decide how everyone can manage services better to meet local needs. Over the next year, Family and Community Services will manage the second stage of Local Services Mapping in 25 areas, and will introduce the first stage to new areas across New Zealand.

Community organisations, hapu and iwi have a strong voice in decision making about policies and services that impact on their wellbeing

Involving families, whanau, and individuals in planning and decision making leads to policies and services that are right for the community.

The Labour Market Development function, established in April 2005, encompasses community grants and partnerships with local industry, to help match skills to jobs and assist people and communities disadvantaged in the labour market.

Enterprising Communities grants are available to help community organisations develop and implement projects that will help people who are finding it difficult to get jobs. These grants are designed to help emerging community owned organisations to become sustainable businesses, providing in return, a service back to the community.

Local Industry Partnerships are designed to help address local skills shortages and to respond quickly to emerging local employment opportunities where local skills do not match those required for the jobs. Working directly with industry to identify and contract the appropriate training courses, they aim to open up sustainable jobs and new career opportunities to unemployed people and others currently disadvantaged in the labour market.

On behalf of the Government, we will promote New Zealanders’ participation in their communities, and in local and central government decision making, by providing The Social Report, an annual social indicators report that reflects the key indicators of social wellbeing. We will also work with the Government on the proposed statement, following each general election, of the Government’s strategies for improving social wellbeing, with a report at least every three years on actions taken to implement the Government’s social strategies.

Regular reporting will contribute to co-ordinated strategies and activities across the social sector, and will strengthen Government’s ability to improve overall social wellbeing and address disadvantage within communities.

Action Plan For New Zealand Women

The Ministry of Women’s Affairs is leading work on the Action Plan for New Zealand Women. The Action Plan aims to improve women’s lives in the workplace, home, community, and as members of society.
The Ministry support the Action Plan through a number of initiatives administered by the Ministry. These include, but are not limited to:

Jobs Jolt and case management to assist women on the Domestic Purposes Benefit and Widow’s Benefit
Heartland Services Centres to improve availability of services to rural women
Te Rito: New Zealand Family Violence Prevention Strategy to improve the quality of life and safety of women
Working for Families to reduce dependency, support economic independence; support labour force attachment of women by enhancing childcare assistance; and improve the quality of work-life balance.

Access to and the effectiveness of government services in communities is improved

For some New Zealanders, especially those living in remote or rural areas, access to government services can be difficult. With more than 170 sites around the country, the Ministry provides important social services to individuals, families and communities.

We administer Heartland Services, a whole-of-government initiative, provides “one-stop-shop” access to government and community services in provincial and rural areas. A local community group runs the service in some areas; in others, the service is run by Work and Income or the Ministry of Justice. Co-ordinators are generally part of the community they serve, and are well connected to people and organisations.

Heartland Outreach Services
Heartland Outreach Services involve government agencies visiting remote communities once or twice a month. Outreach services operate out of existing local community facilities such as community centres, district council service centres, medical centres or iwi/Maori service centres.

We will continue to run initiatives like the Community Initiatives Fund, which supports community leaders to run innovative social development projects that will make a positive, measurable difference within their communities.

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Research and Evaluation

Our research and evaluation in this area focuses on:

social services that help children, young people and families have good life outcomes and aid their full participation in their local community
information that is available to support families and community agencies in making informed and better choices
the partnership between government and community agencies to deliver better local services throughout regional New Zealand.

Work we are currently progressing includes the following:

Strong Pacific Families
We are developing measures related to the framework already developed by Te Rito: New Zealand Family Violence Strategy so that Pacific communities can measure the success of their family violence prevention programmes.

Funding for Outcomes
This project aims to improve the way Government funds community and Maori social service providers through joined-up funding across Government agencies. Its primary objectives are to: find out if integrated contracts reduce transaction and compliance cost for participating organisations; evaluate the appropriateness of joined-up funding for community groups; determine whether joined-up funding improves service delivery; and identify the potential for improving integrated funding processes as the project progresses.

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Managing our capabilities

The increased role of Family and Community Services, Work and Income’s increased regional social development leadership focus, and the work of the Office for the Community and Voluntary Sector will significantly help us achieve better outcomes for communities, hapu and iwi.

Over the next three years we will also continue to:

embed our new community labour market development function
develop the capacity of the Office for the Community and Voluntary Sector
develop our staff’s capability to engage effectively with local government, iwi, Maori and community organisations
strengthen our community-focused research and policy development capabilities.

Monitoring Progress

Outcome indicators

INDICATORS – COMMUNITY AND PARTICPATION
Indicator	Result	Trend
Percentage of New Zealanders aged 12 years and over who spent some time doing unpaid work for people or organisations outside their homes	59% (1999)	No trend available
Percentage of adults who belong to community organisations or groups	70% (1999)	No trend available

Source: The Social Report 2003