About us
On this page:
Our role
The Office for the Community and Voluntary Sector (OCVS) was established in September 2003 to address overarching issues affecting the community and voluntary sector, and to raise the profile of the sector within government.
The OCVS works across government with the aim of achieving excellent relationships between government agencies and community, voluntary and Māori organisations. There are two key documents that determine the OCVS activity:
- Government Statement of Intentions
This document outlines the government’s commitment to developing these relationships.
» Read the Government Statement of Intentions Web version I PDF - 47kb
- He Waka Kotuia: Joining Together on a Shared Journey
This report produced by Community-Government Relationship Steering Group, which suggests new ways for the Government to work with community, voluntary and Māori organisations.
» Read He Waka Kotuia: Joining Together on a Shared Journey PDF - 150kb
The OCVS is active in documenting and promoting good practice models between government agencies and their community sector partners.
Promoting the Government Policy on Volunteering is also a key activity for the OCVS, to strive towards “a society with a high level of volunteering, where the many contributions people make to the common good through volunteering and fulfilment of cultural obligations are actively supported and valued.”
» Read the Government Policy on Volunteering Word - 24kb | PDF - 84kb.
Our work
As well as providing advice to the Minister of the Community and Voluntary, the OCVS has five inter-related parts to its work programme:
- supporting work to build the capacity of the sector, such as collaborating on development of useful resources like Keeping it Legal E Ai Ki Te Ture and Managing Well.
- building knowledge of the community and voluntary sector, for example, work on the Study of the NZ Non-Profit Sector that will provide a clearer picture of the nature and extent of non-profit sector activity within New Zealand.
- providing other government agencies with policy advice on overcoming policy barriers and addressing issues of concern to the community and voluntary sector.
- actively supporting the development and promotion of good practice by government agencies when engaging with the sector, for example through the ‘good practice in action’ seminar series.
- encouraging participation and promoting volunteering by progressing the Government’s work programme on volunteering and working with Volunteering NZ to develop resources for International Volunteer Day and Volunteer Awareness Week.
» Read more about our work programme.
Our structure
The OCVS sits within the Ministry of Social Development (MSD).
» For more information see the MSD website.
» Go to the Beehive website to read about Ruth Dyson, Minister of the Community and Voluntary sector and Minister of Social Development and Employment.
» Read more about our team.
The OCVS has convened an advisory committee for the ‘Study of the non-profit sector’. The committee is made up of eight non-government members with some key government officials attending meetings.
» Read more about the Committee for the 'Study of the non-profit sector'.