Building Partnerships

THIS GOVERNMENT IS WORKING WITH COMMUNITIES to ensure services respond to local needs. We are identifying the key players, and supporting them in finding local solutions to local issues.

There are a number of key participants in reforming our social security system. These include the community and voluntary sector, businesses, local government and the communities themselves.

Our approach is designed to foster a community ownership of solutions. Effective coordination is also required to avoid wasteful duplication of effort and to share best practice among the partners. The Government is actively working towards these goals through agencies such as the Community Employment Group.

THE NEW APPROACH

• The Third Sector (the community and voluntary sector). Third sector organisations contribute strongly to building our communities and are a rich source of talent and ideas. The sector already employs more than 80,000 paid staff and draws on thousands of volunteers. People who are unemployed or unable to undertake full-time work can use opportunities in this sector to reconnect with their communities and gain valuable skills and experience. The Government is working closely with the sector to ensure this happens.

  The Government is committing $3.6 million over the next four years to support the work of social entrepreneurs – people who possess the skills, energy and insight to make a real difference in their communities. By giving these people better training and support, we will ensure that they make an even greater contribution to their communities.

• Communities. Community Employment Organisations have been introduced to assist communities to develop niche businesses that fill in the gap between Government and the private sector and meet social and community needs. The Department of Work and Income is also working with communities, for example in Dunedin, where help is being given to a social agency to create nursery and horticulture jobs for young people to improve their chances in the job market. In Lumsden, residents have been helped to set up a hostel in the town so young people can live there cheaply and commute on a sponsored bus to work in Queenstown.

• Businesses. In partnership with business, we will create new jobs and help disadvantaged people access those jobs. Businesses can also play an increasing role in promoting strong and vibrant communities. The Business Council for Sustainable Development provides an example of businesses working together for broader ends.

• Local government. We will work with local government to address the social and economic concerns of communities. We recognise that local government is in a unique position to identify the concerns in their community and address them. For example, the Government is supporting Actionworks, a Canterbury Development Corporation service that operates in partnership with business, social and health agencies to ensure that all young people in Canterbury are fully participating in paid work, training or community activities. The Government is providing another $2.8 million over the next four years to continue and expand this programme. Also, the Government has a Memorandum of Understanding with the Mayors Taskforce for Jobs that reflects a commitment to ensure that all people in our communities will have the opportunity to be in work or training.

Heartland Services

Government services are working together better and being brought closer to people in rural areas through the Heartland Services initiative. The Government is committing $2.3 million over the next four years for the establishment of centres as a base for government services to rural communities.

The first of approximately 10 Heartland Service Centres planned for provincial locations around the country before Christmas this year opened in Dargaville in May.

Heartland Services improves the face-to-face access to a range of government services for people in small rural towns across New Zealand.

Mayors’ Taskforce for Jobs

Central Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Mayors’ Taskforce for Jobs. It states that the Mayors’ Taskforce is committed to two goals:

• By 2005, no young person will be out of training or work in our communities.

• By 2009, all people in our communities will have the opportunity to be in work or training.

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