• $1.4 Million Funding Boost For Pacific Social Service Providers
• New Directions Plan Released This Week
• Community Funding Goes Online
• Comet Programme Supported
• Fostercare Training
• Papakura - 'Learning City'
• Where To For Welfare?
• 'Knowledge Society' Debate Needed

$1.4 MILLION FUNDING BOOST FOR PACIFIC SOCIAL SERVICE PROVIDERS
Social Services and Employment Minister Steve Maharey and Pacific Island Affairs Minister Mark Gosche announced last week that the Government is to invest $1.4 million to provide community-based social services to Pacific Islands people.

Two consortiums of Pacific social service organisations are to be established in Auckland. The consortiums will provide information and support services for the large and growing number of Pacific social service providers. In addition, funding is also being provided to support a large number of individual providers across the country.

Mr Maharey said the consortiums will assist Pacific social services to further develop what they know best ? making a positive difference in their community.

Strengthening the ability of community-based social service providers to develop services which meet the needs of their communities is a key ambition of the Government. Last year's Budget set aside $1.37 million for a Pacific Provider Development Fund to build providers ability to work with Pacific Islands children and their families. This funding has now mostly been allocated.

The two consortia in Auckland will receive $140,000 each to deliver to their members:

• information provision, support and advice;
• training programmes;
• advocacy on issues relating to Pacific social service providers and their clients and customers; and,
• co-ordination in the provision of Pacific social services.

Allocating funding for the consortia delivers on a long-held ambition on the part of Pacific peoples to get more active supporting the development of their communities. Consultation initially began in 1998, but became stalled until direction from the new Government to Child, Youth and Family and complete their development.

In addition funding worth $843,000 has also been allocated to forty-five community-based providers to support their work. The Government plans to continue this support annually as we recognise ongoing support for provider development is crucial.

* information about the Pacific Provider Development Fund is available from local Child, Youth and Family funding advisers

NEW DIRECTIONS PLAN RELEASED THIS WEEK
Social Services and Employment Minister Steve Maharey is to launch Child, Youth and Family's change plan, New Directions, this Wednesday.

CYF received an additional $184.4 million over the next four years in the Budget to implement the Mick Brown report and to take the Department confidently into the future.

* the New Directions plan and accompanying material will be posted to Mr Maharey's website at www.executive.govt.nz/minister/maharey/

COMMUNITY FUNDING GOES ONLINE
Community and Voluntary Sector Steve Maharey recently launched the first Internet-based government grants scheme. COGS OnLine provides an electronic window to the Community Organisation Grants Scheme, which is administered by the Department of Internal Affairs Community Development Group. COGS distributes $10 million annually to community organisations, especially those targeting disadvantaged groups.

Mr Maharey said the electronic approach will dramatically reduce the compliance costs and duplication of effort for community groups and is the beginning of a database which will revolutionise the way grants funding is developed with plans to bring lottery grants online within 18 months. Lottery grants committees award about $70 million to a wide range of community initiatives each year.

COMET PROGRAMME SUPPORTED
The Government is to provide a start-up funding for a new school-to-work programme to be run by the City of Manukau Education Trust (COMET). The Te Whero programme aims to boost the skills of senior Maori and Pacific school students living in Manukau, providing them with a sufficient qualifications to enrol in tertiary study, or with a training pathway in the workforce.

Social Services and Employment Minister Steve Maharey said the programme is linked to other regional employment and economic development strategies which together provide an excellent example of regional development in action.

The Te Whero programme is to receive $100,000 in seed funding to enable COMET to develop the mentoring resources which support the programme. The Government has also indicated that, following an evaluation of the programme, we would like to talk further with COMET about becoming long-term partners. Two government agencies ? Skill New Zealand and the Community Employment Group ? to work with COMET on the development of Te Whero.

FOSTERCARE TRAINING
The Government has confirmed ongoing funding to provide quality training for foster caregivers. A pilot caregiver training programme run by the New Zealand Family and Foster Care Federation and Child, Youth and Family has operated this year. Funding was due to cease in June 2002. The programme has received positive feedback from the approximately 900 caregivers who have taken part in the training so far. The cost of running the course per year is just over $400,000, with about a thousand caregivers expected to benefit from the programme in the next 12 months. The programme is pitched at an advanced level and includes topics like behaviour management, family dynamics and understanding maltreatment.

PAPAKURA - 'LEARNING CITY'
Associate Education (Tertiary Education) Minister Steve Maharey joined Papakura Mayor David Buist last week in signing a declaration proclaiming Papakura as a Learning City. Mr Maharey said he was delighted with the trend in cities identifying themselves with learning, science and knowledge. He said all New Zealanders need to live in cities and regions that put learning at their heart.

WHERE TO FOR WELFARE?
Social Services and Employment Minister Steve Maharey outlined the six key components of the Government's welfare reform programme during a presentation to the influential Sydney Institute last week.

Providing a system of social security which offers protection while giving incentives for people to move to economic independence and security is the underlying principle of the Labour-Alliance Government's approach to welfare. Mr Maharey said that the Government was committed to fully utilising the skills of unemployed New Zealanders as part of the effort to transform our economy and society.

The Government's approach to reforming New Zealand's antiquated social security system focuses on six key components:

• building a simpler benefit system;
• Making work Pay and investing in people;
• supporting families and children;
• building partnerships with the community;
• outlining mutual responsibilities; and
• tackling poverty and social exclusion.

'KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY' DEBATE NEEDED
Associate Education (Tertiary Education) Minister Steve Maharey called for a national debate on the kind of 'knowledge society' that New Zealand is aiming to develop and the contribution tertiary education could make during a presentation to the New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development last week.

There is now fairly broad international consensus on an emerging model of economic and social development called the 'knowledge society'. New technologies in computing, communications and biotechnology are fundamentally changing modern life. Mr Maharey said to prosper in the 21st century New Zealanders will need successfully apply knowledge to all our economic and social endeavours.

The tertiary education system, broadly defined to include all lifelong learning beyond school, is one of our greatest resources for skills and knowledge development. The Tertiary Education Advisory Commission is now working on a report setting out a possible set of priorities for tertiary education. It is hoped that this report will provide the starting-point of a national debate on what kind of knowledge society New Zealand should be aiming at.