Building good practice
The Office for the Community and Voluntary Sector (OCVS) promotes good practice by government agencies in their interaction with community and voluntary organisations. This work is focused on improving funding arrangements and participation in policy development, in order to improve relationships between the community sector and government.
On this page:
Improving Government Funding Practice
We're working to improve government's funding and accountability arrangements with community and voluntary organisations. This work builds on initiatives undertaken in other parts of government to improve funding processes to better support communities, hapu and iwi and deliver value for money.
» Improving government funding practice
Effective Community Engagement
We are working to improve government engagement with community and voluntary organisations and citizens in policy and service development processes.
Seminars highlight good practice
OCVS hosts interactive seminars to promote information sharing and good practice to strengthen relationships with the community and voluntary sector.
- Good practice in action seminars enable government agencies and their community organisation partners/key community sector stakeholders to share experiences and strengthen working relationships. (These are usually full-day events.)
- Good engagement seminars explore different ways of getting participation by community and government people. (These are usually a couple of hours long.)
Our seminars are about information sharing, results-based learning, and acquiring knowledge and expertise built on the good practice of others. They usually feature a keynote presentation followed by workshop discussions.
Extend your community engagement skills via networking and training
Local networks of the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) operate in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, with regular events usually involving peer presentations from people working in the field of public participation.
» Find out more about IAP2 events in your part of New Zealand
Courses to enhance the skills of public servants when they engage with community groups include IAP2 training developed by the International Association for Public Participation.
Those with a strong interest in extending their skills in participation knowledge and processes may want to enrol in one of the official IAP2 Certificate in Public Participation courses. These include:
- 2-day Techniques in Effective Public Participation course
- 2-day Planning for Effective Public Participation course
- 1-day Effective Communication for Public Participation course
Training companies offering Certificate courses and other engagement training throughout the year include:
» Pattillo’s schedule of Certificate in Public Participation courses in Wellington and Auckland
» Twyford NZ’s schedule of Certificate in Public Participation courses in Auckland
» Victoria University of Wellington's short course on Good Practice Consultation (School of Government/Centre for Lifelong Learning)
» Art of Hosting workshops: Hosting and harvesting conversations that matter
Policy Development Toolkit on the Public Sector Intranet
The Policy Development Toolkit is a single point of access to New Zealand policy development guidance documents and websites. The Toolkit is primarily aimed at New Zealand public sector policy analysts, so it is hosted on the Public Sector Intranet. If you have ideas about content, e-mail the team who put it together (details on the PSI).
» Public servants can access the toolkit on the Public Service Intranet.
Guidelines for distributing information through Citizens Advice Bureaux (CAB)
In 2005, the OCVS created guidelines for central government agencies that distribute information through New Zealand’s network of 87 Citizens Advice Bureaux (CAB), and provided copies to all government agencies that distribute, or may distribute information through CAB in the future.
The guidelines help ensure that agencies communicate regularly with the NZ Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux (NZACAB) about new and updated information. They also help to reduce the NZACAB’s administrative costs in this area, allowing the CAB network to focus on its core role of providing information and advice to the community.
