Issue 41 - 3 May 2011

If you have news or major activities related to community and voluntary sector issues, you are welcome to send a brief description to us at ocvs@dia.govt.nz for inclusion in our email updates.

The National Volunteering Conference in Wellington on 23-24 May will be an excellent opportunity to gain up-to-the minute insights on volunteering matters, and consider how these impact on the work of your organisation.

The 2011 National Volunteering Conference: Raising the Bar programme features a special focus on volunteer involvement following Canterbury's two major earthquakes. Speakers from government, community sector agencies and business will include key leaders of the overall response to these major catastrophes, as well as those who participated at all levels.

International keynote speaker, Susan Ellis will share her extensive knowledge and understanding of volunteer involvement in emergencies and the important link to the need for effective management of volunteers.

The second major stream at the conference is Developing the Leaders – advancing the Management of Volunteers. The New Zealand voluntary sector's current focus on the recognition and development of management and leadership of volunteers has placed us at the leading-edge of volunteering thinking in the world – attend this conference to learn the latest developments and findings, as well as ideas on building volunteering infrastructure.

The conference's Episodic and Events Volunteering stream will also explore volunteering aspects of planning for the Rugby World Cup 2011 and the 5,000 volunteers needed to support it.

Launched in December last year, the Contract Mapping website made information about government funding of social services publically available for the first time.

The site originally provided information on contracts between the Ministry of Social Development and social sector service organisations. Now the Ministries of Justice, Health and Education have added their information on contracts delivered to communities to the Contract Mapping website.

The website enables communities to go online to see what social services the Government is funding in their area, what organisations get the money, how much and what it is used for. This online tool means communities can immediately identify what services are funded in their area, as well as gaps and overlaps. It will also help inform Government policy and funding decisions.

Using technology to provide this level of detail is a first, and reflects a Government focus on transparency and accountability (two of the seven core codes in the new Code of Funding Practice).

Over the next 12 months the Social Workers Registration Board (SWRB) is undertaking a five-yearly review of the Social Workers Registration Act 2003 (the Act). The SWRB must consider whether any amendments to the Act are necessary or desirable and report its findings to the Minister for Social Development and Employment.

As part of the review process, the SWRB has released a discussion paper on mandatory social worker registration. The SWRB is seeking feedback from as many sources as possible on whether New Zealand should move from voluntary to mandatory social worker registration.

The Mandatory Social Worker Registration discussion paper provides points to consider and background information to help people provide feedback. Feedback will inform future reports the SWRB makes to the Minister for Social Development and Employment about changes to the current law on social worker registration, including the Act. It is important that people make their views heard now as it will be another five years before we have this opportunity again.

The Board is available, where possible, to provide presentations on the discussion document for those seeking more information. Priority will be given to larger gatherings, so the SWRB encourages smaller groups to get together in a region if they would like a presentation. To request a presentation or a hard copy of the discussion document, please contact the SWRB office by:

• Email: consultation@swrb.govt.nz
• Fax: (04) 931 2651
• Telephone: (04) 931 2650
• Or write to the Board: PO Box 10150, The Terrace, Wellington 6143

Feedback on the discussion document will be accepted by the SWRB until Friday 1 July 2011, which allows a good chunk of time for people to make an informed response to the discussion document.

» Download the Mandatory Social Worker Registration discussion paper from the Board’s website at www.swrb.govt.nz

The Positive Ageing website delivers information online in a refreshing and easily digestible way – making it easier for people to find and understand information relevant to their lives and work.

Positive Ageing reporting is online at http://positiveageing.msd.govt.nz where it updates progress on actions resulting from the New Zealand Positive Ageing Strategy, which has been in place since 2001. The New Zealand Positive Ageing Strategy features 10 goals and government's vision of "a society where people can age positively, where older people are highly valued and where they are recognised as an integral part of families and communities".

The Positive Ageing website includes:

• the Minister for Senior Citizen's key portfolio priorities for positive ageing
• what central and local government agencies are doing to improve the wellbeing of older people in New Zealand (initiatives for 2011–12 can be filtered by Positive Ageing goal, region and agency)
• indicators for the 10 goals of the Positive Ageing Strategy and overall assessments of progress
• demographic context and information on some key areas of interest for older people's policy.

Responses to the latest version of the site have been very positive, with key stakeholders and the Minister for Senior Citizens suggesting the reporting on indicators and filtering approach could be useful for other whole-of-government reporting and strategies.

The material on the site is useful for policy and planning staff in local and central government, and in the community and voluntary sector. The Office for Senior Citizens is keen to add initiatives from community and voluntary sector agencies that work with older people.

» Explore the Positive Ageing website now
» If you have content to add or feedback about the site, contact the Office for Senior Citizens on Ph 04 916 3758 or e-mail: osc@msd.govt.nz

In order to develop engagement methods that elicit a broader range of inputs into policy development, the Department of Internal Affairs and the Ministry for the Environment piloted an online discussion forum with supporting data during September and October 2010.

The Open Data Engagement Pilot tested an approach of supplying publicly available data online to knowledgeable specialists and the public, to supplement an online discussion forum for a government policy consultation. The expectation was that it would lead to a richer consultation process because it would enable the agency to tap into analysis and perspectives not usually represented in the policy consultation process. It was also anticipated that the resulting greater transparency would enable the public to use the available data to more fully scrutinise the issues and evidence base for proposed policy changes.

The pilot topic was Erosion Susceptibility Classification for Plantation Forestry, and was run in parallel with the Ministry for the Environment’s wider policy consultation on the proposed National Environmental Standard (NES) for plantation forestry. Erosion susceptibility was one of the more technical aspects of the NES, and therefore suited the pilot criteria for the target audience and supporting data. The pilot helped to provide expert input on the topic of erosion susceptibility at an earlier stage in the policy development process than would have occurred otherwise. Most of the technical experts from the small target audience engaged with the online pilot, and their input increased the quality of information from the consultation phase.

During the pilot there was insufficient evidence of the target audience’s engagement with the pilot’s data at the expected depth (ie: no evidence of data analysis informing comments in the discussion forum). Therefore, there was not enough evidence to suggest that having the data alongside the discussion forum made a positive impact on the consultation process. Participants discussed the data and information sources in the forum, but did not seem to perform any new analysis during the pilot. However, comments from the forum increased the Ministry for the Environment’s understanding of the issues relevant to developing an erosion susceptibility classification.

Despite the lack of evidence of participant engagement with the supporting data, there was strong support for this approach from the interviewed stakeholders and the involved Ministry for the Environment staff. It was considered this approach may be particularly useful when there are compressed timeframes for policy development, when there is limited knowledge about where the experts are, and limited knowledge of the availability of data and key information.

The team who worked on the project identified a number of lessons learned during the pilot process and these are summarised online at www.goodpracticeparticipate.govt.nz.

» View the lessons learned from the Open Data Engagement Pilot
» Contact those involved in the pilot from the Government Technology Services team in Internal Affairs

Community Research is the place to find good community research and researchers in New Zealand. The website is Aotearoa's premier hub for research papers, articles, case studies and documentation about the tangata whenua, community and voluntary sector. You can use it to upload your research, join or create discussion forums, find research and researchers, help pass on new ideas and good practice, and share your expertise with others.

The term ’community research’ refers to research that adds to our knowledge of tangata whenua (Māori communities), and New Zealand’s community and voluntary sector. And research that promotes good ways of working with communities, so that people learn through participating in the research.

More than 200 people and organisations have already contributed research to the site on topics such as generosity, volunteering, community development, social inclusion, cultural diversity and capacity building.

Recently-added research reports include:

• Financial Reporting Stocktake: An assessment of accountability through charities’ filings on New Zealand’s Charities Register
• Evaluation of the Healthy Relationships Programme for youth with intellectual disabilities
• Te Rarawa Community Research
  

The Community Research team is happy to make presentations to interested groups who want to know how to get the best out of the site, so contact Jan Hinde on 04 381 6389 if you’d like to discuss these opportunities.

» Visit the Community Research website and start searching

• Help test the new Community Matters website – before it goes live
  Five minutes of your time could help the Department of Internal Affairs to finalise the design of a new website to help NGOs and communities. The site is due to launch in June and will have information about the various grant schemes the Department administers, including Lottery, COGS and Trust grants. The site will also highlight the community advisory services that are delivered across New Zealand through the Internal Affairs network of 16 regional offices. Your answers will help make sure the site works for users just like you, and that people can find the information they need.
  » Click on this link http://bitly.com/ihq_reg and then follow the instructions online
• Getting your community and hapū online
  This new resource from the Department of Internal Affairs is for iwi, hapū and communities wanting to connect with their people, their country and the world by becoming more digitally literate. It includes case studies of successful digital initiatives, guidelines on how to set up a range of digital projects, and advice on how to manage a digital project.
  » Hard copies of this resource are available from your regional Department of Internal Affairs office
• Whānau Integration, Innovation and Engagement Fund – apply now
  Te Puni Kōkiri is calling for applications for the Whānau Integration, Innovation and Engagement Fund, which is available to support whānau to engage with each other, with other whānau, communities and providers. The fund is open to Whānau Ora providers and NGOs like iwi, hapū and Runanga, whānau trusts and marae committees. The fund can help build whānau capability, strengthen whānau connections, support the development of whānau leadership and enhance best outcomes for whānau.
• Green Paper to put priority on children
  The Social Development Minister has announced plans to develop a Green Paper to kick off a national conversation on how we value, nurture and protect children. The Green Paper will focus on the needs of children and young people aged 0 to 18 years, with a special focus on under five-year olds. It will contain a range of issues for New Zealanders to consider, such as:
  • information sharing to protect children
  • tracking at-risk children
  • greater use of schools after hours, for a range of activities
  • mandatory reporting of child abuse
  • whānau-first placements for children in state care.
  
  The Green Paper will be written by a multi-disciplinary team with input from key stakeholders, and advised by a scientific and academic reference group. The process will bring together health, education and the social sector.
  » See other reports on the needs of children and young people
  

  » Watch the Minister for Social Development and Employment in the new TV show Make the Politician work

• Business Cost Calculator available to assist government processes
  This new IT-based tool provides a framework to calculate the compliance costs for business of regulatory proposals. It is designed to assist policy makers in the preparation of robust regulatory impact analysis (RIA) in order to improve the overall quality of the regulatory environment for business. The New Zealand version of the BCC is an adaptation of the Australian BCC, which was developed by the Australian Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPU) for use in Australian government agencies.
  » The Business Cost Calculator (BCC) is available for use by government staff on the Public Sector Intranet
• Review of Policy Expenditure and Advice – report available
  The Government has agreed to a suite of actions that respond to the Review's recommendations. These includes driving stronger central agency stewardship of the State sector to support cross-agency collaboration, performance improvement, capability building and focus on medium and longer term policy challenges.
• First NZ Report on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
  This report was approved by the Minister for Disability Issues on 25 March 2011. The report includes the voice of disabled people and shows that New Zealand is relatively advanced in its implementation of the Convention. While considerable work has been achieved across all articles, there is work still to be done.
  » Read NZ’s Disability report to the UN
  » Download the Human Rights Commission’s plain language explanation of the Disability Convention and what it means for disabled people
• Not-for-Profits: Doing More with Less report
  According to the latest survey of not-for-profit organisations by Grant Thornton NZ, the three most challenging issues for the not-for-profit sector are the same three issues identified in the previous survey:
  • Where will the money (funding) come from?
  • Given that choices need to be made, where shall we spend our money?
  • How do we retain and motivate key staff?
    
    The report, entitled Survival: the ongoing challenge of having to deliver more with less, states: “The critical need to supplement grants and donations with fundraising activities remains top of mind for most not-for-profit organisations. Fundraising is a continual challenge which, if targets are not achieved, leave not-for-profit organisations with the added pressure of having to deliver more with less. With the level of donations remaining comparatively static over the last couple of years, anecdotal evidence indicates that companies and individuals are being more selective in which organisations they wish to support. Fundraising has become even more competitive than before.“
• Post-graduate Diploma or Certificate in Social Enterprise
  The Waikato Management School at the University of Waikato offers social enterprise studies on a full-time and part-time basis. The papers explore the scope of social enterprise organisations in Western Society such as those committed to:
  • social, political, cultural, educational, religious or spiritual enhancement
  • environmental restoration
  • the promotion of arts, leisure and fun
  • the creation of employment and careers opportunities
  • international networking, citizen awareness, etc.
• Community and Voluntary Sector Minister’s speech on social enterprise and social lending
  The Hon Tariana Turia delivered this speech at the recent Community Economic Development Conference, where she said: “I want to assure you of the government’s interest in supporting a localism agenda that enables the building of strong resilient communities through the development of community enterprises. I am particularly keen to support a strong social lending sector in New Zealand. I see the relationship between social enterprises and social lending as intertwined – social enterprises are businesses with a social cause and social lenders need those businesses so that they can invest in social causes.”
• Philanthropy through the Looking Glass conference presentations
  Watch for presentations from this conference online soon
• New Community Engagement course in wake of earthquake
  Academics across the University of Canterbury are developing a new 15-point community engagement course that will be offered to students and the wider community. It is anticipated that CHCH 101: An Introduction to Community Engagement will be offered in semester two and during 2011-2012 summer school.
  "The primary focus for the course is the theory and practice of community engagement," said University of Canterbury Vice-Chancellor, Dr Rod Carr. "There is a well-researched body of knowledge about community engagement techniques and practices that are more likely to be effective whether you are supporting a traumatised community, building consensus about medium-term plans or supporting established organisations.”
  
  The academic component of the course will be delivered online. Course fees for CHCH 101 will be waived for those who undertake the practical service requirement of the course in the Canterbury region. Where these are performed outside the Canterbury region, students enrolled in CHCH 101 will be asked to make a donation to the UC Foundation to support research and teaching in service learning.
  More details about the CHCH 101 programme delivery will be released in coming weeks.

• Transformer: How to build a network to change a system
  This in-depth US case study shares recent research into the power of networks to accelerate systems change. It shows how RE-AMP, a network of 125 nonprofits and funders across eight Midwestern states, has built the capacity of activists, increased funding for its cause, created a number of shared resources, and developed stronger relationships between funders and nonprofits. The Monitor Institute identified six key principles used by RE-AMP that can give other groups interested in building a collective network a roadmap to follow:
  • Start by understanding the system you are trying to change
  • Involve both funders and non-profits as equals from the outset
  • Design for a network, not an organisation—and invest in collective infrastructure
  • Cultivate leadership at many levels
  • Create multiple opportunities to connect and communicate
  • Remain adaptive and emergent—and committed to a long-term vision.
• Working Wikily
  Most nonprofits use social media like Facebook and Twitter as an ancillary part of what they do. A few organisations, however, are using these tools to fundamentally change the way they work and increase their social impact. This article from the Monitor Institute explores what’s involved in this approach, which is characterised by greater openness, transparency, decentralised decision-making and collective action.
• What’s Next for Philanthropy: Acting bigger and adapting better in a networked world
  An intimidating range of forces – globalisation, shifting sectoral roles, economic crisis, and new technologies – are changing both what philanthropy is called upon to do, and how donors and foundations will accomplish their work in the future. For philanthropic and civic leaders looking to cultivate change in today's rapidly shifting landscape, simply tweaking the status quo won't be enough. Funders will have to pioneer "next practices"-effective approaches that are well-suited to tomorrow's more networked, dynamic, and interdependent context. With this in mind, the Monitor Institute has updated its 2005 report Looking Out for the Future, and produced What’s Next for Philanthropy.
• A Framework for Action
  This working document from Imagine Canada outlines drivers of change that they believe will have an impact on the non-profit sector in the coming years. Imagine Canada is using this draft framework to inform their engagement strategy and facilitate a nationwide conversation about what actions must be taken to maximise the contributions of the sector to Canada and the world over the next decade. The drivers are:
  • changing demographics
  • the increasing importance and influence of social innovation
  • structural shifts in the revenue base that supports the work of charitable and non-profit organisations
  • shortage of talent to strengthen and lead charitable and non-profit organisations
  • changing expectations of volunteers who govern, support and promote civic and community organisations
  • heightened demand for transparency, accountability and communication of impact
  • growing need for transformative partnerships among charities and nonprofits, and with other sectors
  • increased use of social media and new technologies for community engagement, outreach to youth and networking
• Understanding the demand for and supply of social finance
  This UK report from NESTA sets out the nature of current and future demand for capital from social finance intermediaries and aims to develop an understanding of the mix of financing the Big Society Bank will need to support. The report explores demand for capital in three target markets:
  • social finance covers the demand from social finance intermediaries to supply capital to charities, social enterprises and businesses with a social purpose
  • financial inclusion explores demand for capital from non-profit providers of affordable loans in the UK
  • social housing looks at demand for capital from housing associations.

Check the Events calendar on CommunityNet Aotearoa to see what is happening around the country. Forthcoming events include:

• International Year of Volunteers +10 (throughout 2011)
• Charities Commission regional forums in 17 locations around NZ (3 May to 12 July)
• National Volunteering Conference: Raising the Bar – Wellington (23-24 May)
• Connecting Up Conferences in Wellington & Auckland (27 & 30 May)
• Volunteer Awareness Week (19-25 June)

….and much more.
» View the full CommunityNet Aotearoa events calendar online

When the OCVS transferred to the Department of Internal Affairs on 1 February 2011, it became part of the new Policy, Regulatory and Ethnic Affairs (PREA) branch within Internal Affairs.

PREA branch brings together the policy, regulatory and ethnic affairs functions from across Internal Affairs, including those from the National Library, Archives NZ, the Office of Ethnic Affairs, and the Office for the Community and Voluntary Sector. The policy focus in the branch includes local government and community policy, gambling, racing and censorship policy, identity policy (such as citizenship, passports and births, deaths and marriages registration), civil defence emergency management policy, policy on the provision and funding of New Zealand's fire services, and general policy relating to daylight saving, public inquiries and commissions of inquiry. The PREA branch also provides advice to Ministers on monitoring and appointments related to a number of Crown Entities.

Over recent weeks, newly-appointed Deputy Chief Executives have been taking up their positions across the Department following a major re-organisation of Internal Affairs. On 18 April, Paul James began as the Deputy Chief Executive of PREA. In his role of DCE PREA, Paul is a member of the Department's new Executive Leadership Team and is the person who the OCVS Director reports to.

Prior to joining Internal Affairs, Paul was the Director of the Office of Treaty Settlements (OTS) in the Ministry of Justice. He’d held that role since 2006 and over the past two years has sustained a dramatically increased rate of Treaty settlements. He was previously General Manager, Public Law and earlier Policy Manager, Family Law. He has also worked in policy in The Treasury, ACC, OTS and Te Puni Kōkiri. Paul led substantial change at OTS, putting in place a new operating model, structure and significant policy and process innovations in the way settlements are achieved, including a programme management approach. Through Treaty settlements Paul has had substantial exposure to local government and natural resource policy. While in Public Law he led a large and diverse programme of law reform, including censorship and the introduction of Civil Unions.

In other staffing changes affecting OCVS, e-news editor Grant Aldridge has taken up a secretariat role for the Ministry of Health’s Health and Disability NGO Working Group. The NGO Working Group is elected by the health and disability non-government organisation (NGO) sector to work with the Ministry of Health and other stakeholders on issues of importance to the wider NGO sector. The NGO Working Group was established in 2002 after the Ministry of Health and a group of NGOs got together to develop a Framework for Relations between the Ministry of Health and Health and Disability Non-Government Organisations. Grant’s new role means he will finish up with the OCVS around the end of May 2011.

» Read more about the new Department of Internal Affairs structure
» See more about the role and work of the Health & Disability NGO Working Group

The Office of Ethnic Affairs is hosting a major ethnic affairs conference in Wellington on 6-7 May to explore ways that ethnic minority groups can improve their chances of being heard by decision makers, and increase their sustainability into the future.

The keynote speaker is Pino Migliorino, Chair of the Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Council of Australia and one of Australasia’s leading consultants in the area of ethnicity and cultural diversity. Pino’s presentation will focus on ways ethnic community groups can improve their visibility and profile.

People attending sessions on social innovation and community enterprise will hear about different ways to structure organisations to increase participation, improve engagement and find creative solutions to funding issues. Another theme of the conference will be the evolving relationship between New Zealand’s new settler communities and Māori.

The Office of Ethnic Affairs encourages all those people interested in these topics to register to attend the conference on Friday or Saturday afternoon.

» Find out more about the Wellington conference on the Office of Ethnic Affairs website.

The Wellington conference follows a similar event in Auckland, where ethnic community groups were among more than 200 delegates who gathered for the EthnicA conference at the beginning of April.

EthnicA was a significant pan-ethnic event to help build stronger networks and relationships across ethnic communities and to provide workshops that delivered practical support and encouragement to ethnic people to participate fully in New Zealand society.

Opening the two-day conference in Auckland, the Minister for Ethnic Affairs, Hon Hekia Parata, focused her speech on encouraging community organisations to work together, to free up more resources for front-line services. Ms Parata said that in the current economic environment, when the Government is streamlining back office functions and making efficiencies to improve services “the challenge to community organisations is to do the same thing: to collaborate and coordinate.”
With funding for community groups becoming more scarce, the Director of the Office of Ethnic Affairs, Mervin Singham, suggested to delegates that groups need to work across sectors to find solutions. “Creative solutions need to be found to the old problem of raising money,” he said.

Funding was also the topic for one of the workshops: Money Matters – getting the best results from your funding application. Participants were given the opportunity to act as funders, which provided delegates with a better idea of the funding process and how they can improve their own funding applications.

Another workshop heard the stories of six successful migrant women business entrepreneurs.

» Their experiences can be read on the Office of Ethnic Affairs website (PDF - 312KB) 

An EthnicA conference planned for Christchurch was cancelled because of the earthquake.

A third Good Engagement seminar in the space of six weeks will be held this Friday (6 May) in Wellington. Tools for Inclusive Engagement is a joint event hosted by the OCVS and the Office for Disability Issues, and will feature presenters from Interactionz and People First NZ who have experience developing innovative ways to make it easier for people with disabilities to contribute to and influence engagement processes.

Bookings are tight, but it may be possible to squeeze you in, if you register today – see the OCVS website for details.

Previous Good Engagement seminars have also proved popular and covered topics ranging from participatory leadership to engaging with Pacific communities, partnerships and advocacy, and collaborative governance.

If there are specific engagement topics that interest you, please e-mail ocvs@dia.govt.nz with your suggestions – we won’t be able to accommodate everyone’s requests, but it will assist our planning to know what topics are of most interest to you. We also welcome offers from experienced presenters who could cover an engagement topic in up to 90 minutes.

In the meantime, you can see previous engagement seminar presentations on the OCVS website or visit www.goodpracticeparticipate.govt.nz/ for general guidance on engaging stakeholders.

» Tell us what engagement topics you'd like to see covered in future seminars

An updated version of the Community Resource Kit is now online at the new-look CommunityNet Aotearoa. 

This latest online edition published in late March, builds upon previous kits produced in 1993 and 2006 by the Department of Internal Affairs and Ministry of Social Development.  This Kit complements other resources such as Keeping it Legal, E Ai Ki Te Ture, which provides information for community groups about their legal obligations.

The Community Resource Kit can be downloaded section-by-section. Topics include financial management, employment, planning, governance, raising funds, information technology, communications and record-keeping.  The Community Resource Kit can help community organisations put great ideas into practice, to support communities to develop local solutions and build stronger communities.

Help to access the Community Resource Kit online is available from community advisors at Department of Internal Affairs' regional offices and at Citizens Advice Bureaux. It can also be accessed via free Internet sites available in places such as public libraries and information centres.

» Download or view the Community Resource Kit online now

Payroll giving to New Zealand non-profits has hit the $2 million milestone in just 15 months, the Revenue Minister, Hon Peter Dunne announced in April.

The scheme raised $1.4 million in its first 12 months to January this year, and has taken off with a further $600,000 donated in the first three months of this year.

One third of that money stayed in the pockets of donors due to the fact that they received immediate tax credits, while the non-profits got the full benefit of the total donations.

A comprehensive and very flexible payroll giving scheme has been operating at the Ministry of Social Development for a full year now - where staff can donate to more than 1,500 non-profits or 2,400 schools.  One surprising trend with donations there is the one-off donations for events like the Canterbury earthquake that staff have made via payroll giving - thanks to the clever software developed within the Ministry (and available for other organisations to use), changes are all automated and updated by individual staff themselves, so it's easily managed with donor information being passed on to recipient non-profits where staff have authorised this.

Inland Revenue estimates that around 828 employers have offered payroll giving at some stage during the past 15 months, but this fluctuates from month to month. Reasons for this are unclear, but OCVS is keen to hear from employers, non-profits or individuals who'd like to share their experiences of payroll giving (good and bad) so we can look at ways to increase the uptake of this efficient method of giving.

» Read the media release from the Minister of Revenue

» E-mail OCVS about your payroll giving challenges and triumphs or phone 04 495 9361

» Find out more about MSD's payroll giving scheme and how you can benefit from their efforts

» Learn more about payroll giving at  www.payrollgivinginfo.org.nz/ or www.ird.govt.nz/news-updates/like-to-know-payroll-giving.html.

» Share your experiences of generosity on the Giving for Good website

The Kia Tūtahi-Standing Together Steering Group has recommended that the proposed Community Government Relationship Agreement be re-framed as a Relationship Accord. The Steering Group feels this will better reflect the aspirational nature of the document and will not imply expectations of legal redress that cannot be met. This proposal follows consultation feedback on the difficulties of holding parties accountable to a high level agreement.

The Steering Group has discussed with the Minister and Associate Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector the need for further work to give effect to the Accord, and has worked with the Office for the Community and Voluntary Sector on ways to do this.

The Steering Group has now handed over its report, including the draft Accord and an implementation plan, to Hon Tariana Turia. Upon the acceptance of the report, Minister Turia will present the Accord to her Cabinet colleagues seeking their endorsement of the Accord and the release of the report.

» See background on the work of the Kia Tūtahi Standing Together Steering Group

Reproduction: You are welcome to reprint, forward or publish stories from this e-newsletter to raise awareness of the topics covered. Acknowledgement of OCVS as the source would be appreciated. (Any queries to ocvs@dia.govt.nz)
[Issue 41 ends].

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