Three key projects underway to address challenging issues

The OCVS is currently working on three key projects in collaboration with the community and voluntary sector. Each project addresses challenging issues highlighted by the sector, and is being led by a working group made up of community and government stakeholders.

For more detail about our projects, click on the links below:

Building Better Government Engagement

We’re working to improve government engagement with community and voluntary organisations and citizens in policy and service development processes.

At the 2007 Community – Government Forum, participants called for the public service to improve consultation processes and create a more respectful and collaborative culture of engagement. In response, we are undertaking work to improve government understanding of:

good practice in building relationships
methods of dialogue and deliberation
the value of collaborative approaches to decision-making.

Through this work we will be developing a programme that is likely to include seminars, web resources, training courses, induction and recruitment resources, secondments and exchanges, and other initiatives to build participatory democracy. The project involves representatives from the community sector and government agencies. Insights and guidance from this project will be available on the Good Practice Participate online resource.

» For more information about building better government engagement with the sector, contact Diana Suggate.

Improving Government Funding Practice

We’re working to improve government’s funding and accountability arrangements with community and voluntary organisations. This work will build on initiatives undertaken in other parts of government that impact on specific parts of the sector, particularly the Ministry of Social Development’s Sustainable Social Services NGO Sector project.

The OCVS-led project will have wide application across all government agencies that fund the community and voluntary sector.

Over the past two decades, Government funding practice has sharpened its focus on accountability. Over 90% of all public funding to community and voluntary groups is now being paid as a contract for service. Many community and voluntary sector organisations report that the contracting culture is counter-productive and undermines the potential for strong working relationships between government and the sector.

This project takes a whole-of-government and whole-of-sector approach to government funding practice and will enable community people and officials to shape issues and good practice. Insights and guidance resulting from the project will be available on an ongoing basis through the Good Practice Funding online resource.

» For more information, contact Hugh Lawrence.

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