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To inform, inspire and advocate… |
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September 2008 |
You may reproduce items, provided you acknowledge the source and, where identified, you also acknowledge the writer. We welcome contributions—the next edition of New Dialogue will be published in December. |
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Sector strength comes from a collaborative voice… NZFVWO is an active network of social service
organisations. We offer a unique opportunity to be involved in strengthening
community & voluntary services & increasing the influence of the
sector. |
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· Building a vision for New Zealand—ComVoices. · Political parties represented at ANGOA Forums—Dave Henderson, ANGOA Coordinator. · Be Heard!—Anna Kominik, Ideas Shop for ComVoices. · Questions for candidates—NZ Federation of Voluntary Welfare Organisations. · Meeting your local political candidates—Emma McCleary, Ideas Shop for ComVoices. · A successful candidates meeting—how we did it…—Lynne Philip, Coordinator Hutt Council of Social Services. · Electoral law demystified—Peter Northcote, Communications Manager, Electoral Commission. ·
Poverty
in an affluent society—
Sector News · Pathway to Partnership—Ros Rice, NZ Council of Social Services (NZCOSS), Executive Officer. · Open Eyes, Open
Minds—Artists aging with attitude!—Age
Concern, · Two new reports highlight the NZ non-profit sector
Federation Focus · Stories have great power—From our President, Fran Hoover. ·
Research-Making
it real!—From our Executive
Director, |
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To advertise in the online edition of New Dialogue, please email comms@nzfvwo.org.nz Advertising in this edition of New Dialogue is FREE to NZFVWO Members. |
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Building a vision for New Zealand ComVoices |
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These are just some of the statements sector
organisations have adopted as a means of communicating the issues confronting
our communities. Each statement is vitally important. And a General
Election is an appropriate time to gather them together and reflect on an
overall vision for Members of ComVoices, an independent coalition of 19 Tangata Whenua, community and voluntary sector organisations, have been considering what this might be. They believe it is a vision where everyone feels connected, is able to participate, and where the Treaty of Waitangi forms the foundation for everything we do. ComVoices has also been considering what Government and the sector can usefully do in the next Parliamentary term to progress this to reality on the basis that the sector is usually at the forefront of social change. In recent years, both government and the sector have worked hard to build a relationship that will lead to better social development. But there is more work to do to create the fundamental shift in thinking and relationships that will ultimately shift some of the barriers to better outcomes and deliver on the vision, including the fragmentation within Government sector around such things as interagency contracting, capability, reporting and policy making/policy delivery; fragmentation; and a need to strengthen the spectrum of collaborations, joint work and partnerships within and between sector and Government. ComVoices’ members have begun their pre-election meetings with candidates with a wish list to help shift these barriers. At the top of the list is a Prime Minister’s Sector Forum to be established in the next Parliamentary term. The details of any such forum would have still have to be worked out, but there is plenty of precedent to work with, including the Local Government Forum, and various Prime Minister’s roundtables over successive years. The purpose of any such forum would be to
provide a high-level mechanism for an ongoing discussion between sector
representatives and Senior Ministers around social development in We believe the benefits would be significant. It is timely and appropriate to formalise ad hoc arrangements and create a mechanism for government and the sector to engage together on the issues that our communities face. It would take many of the strategic
discussions out of The rationale for the forum is to create a deeper sense of engagement and create a strategy, with measurable goals. Sector organisations offer opportunities for flexibility, responsiveness and public involvement that cannot be achieved by government alone. But improved social outcomes will be achieved only through strong relationships between the sector and government. It’s time to encourage relationships from the top of the decision-making tree, and not be managed by the bottom. ComVoices members believe this level of engagement is needed to achieve the kind of step-shift in relationship that will ensure we deliver every New Zealander their right to feel connected and able to participate.
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Political parties represented at ANGOA Forums Dave Henderson,
Coordinator, ANGOA (Association of Non-government Organisations of Aotearoa)
writes about recent |
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This is what each of the parties have
said—you can read full notes in the monthly Roundtable newsletters on the
ANGOA website at www.angoa.org.
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Anna Kominik is a partner in Ideas Shop Ltd, which supports ComVoices, a network of Tangata Whenua, and community and voluntary sector organisations. |
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The pre-election period marks a significant opportunity for sector organisations to exercise their democratic might, raise awareness and promote key issues to decision makers, at a time when they are more likely than ever to be listening. The trick is to ensure those conversations are recorded—by the media—so there is no way that candidates, once elected, can forget the conversations they had on the hustings. There is a three stage process for effectively engaging with media and getting coverage: Plan If possible, sit your organisation down and talk about what decisions at central government level would make a difference to your service or area. You may want changes to current funding models employed by government agencies, equal pay with public sector staff for the same job, or you may want to advance ICT in your area. Refine Contextualise what you are looking to achieve. Answer the questions: Why should anyone else in our community care about what we are proposing? Why does it matter? You need to agree key messages and who your media spokespeople will be. Once you have the ‘what’ sorted out, you need to think about the ‘how’: What are the best channels to use to get our message out? Obvious ones include: ► Set up and/or participate in candidate meetings (see next stories); ► Use existing communications (newsletters, email lists); ► Comment on policy, either through media statements, or by calling local journalists; ► Seek pre-election meetings with the MPs and/or Ministers who have responsibility for your area. Execute Treat a media encounter like a good dinner party: ► Start with a clean plate—forget what you can’t control and assume reporters know very little about you; ► Plan your dinner party—if you were sitting at their table, what would you like to eat? What you like to talk about? As a rule of thumb, spend 80 per cent of your time talking about issues/policies/decisions your organisation would like to see advanced in the next Parliamentary term and why they are important. ► Don’t let them go hungry: pack your discussion with real-life examples and, if possible, statistics, and refer to conversations you’ve had with other candidates; ► Service with a smile: Be fully engaged and respect the person you’re talking to—whether they are a reporter or candidate. All candidates matter, whatever their political persuasion or point of view. |
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Besides questions about your own issues, here are some sample questions on key issues for the community & voluntary sector as we head towards the general election. You might like to ask these of your local candidates at a local meeting convened especially for this. Role of the sector ► What are your parties policies for the sector? ► How do you think government should support the independence of the sector? ► How do you think government should support sustainability of voluntary organisations? Funding issues ► Would you support an increase in funding to voluntary organisations? ► Do you have any ideas about how the government should determine how much it should fund community and voluntary organisations? ► How do you think funding processes between the sector and government could be improved? Relationship between government and the sector ► What is your party’s intentions for the Office of the Community and Voluntary Sector (OCVS)? ► Does your party intend to have a Minister inside Cabinet for the community & voluntary sector? ► Are you aware of the Statement of Government Intentions for an Improved Community-Government relationship (the SOGI)? ► If so—how would you give it more teeth? ► How do you think government can provide leadership for improving engagement with voluntary organisations? |
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Meeting your local political candidates Emma McCleary works for Ideas Shop Ltd, which supports ComVoices, a network of Tangata Whenua, and community and voluntary sector organisations. |
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Decide who to meet with Decide who to meet with. Meet with as many local candidates as possible and don’t discount the value of meeting with members of the smaller parties e.g. United Future, Greens. Decide who will attend and the agenda A good plan will ensure the most appropriate people attend the meetings and that your organisation is clear on their purpose. Call and make an appointment State who you are, where you are calling from and that you would like to meet with the candidate. It’s a good idea to briefly outline what you’d like to talk about e.g. ‘issues for elderly in our region’ and offer to follow up with an email. Email and confirm Thank them for the opportunty to meet. Repeat who will be visiting and their position in the organisation, and outline what you would like to talk about. Include contact details in case of any change to arrangements. Be on time and take notes Write down points that you would like to follow up or information that the candidate confirms during the meeting that you hadn’t previously heard. Write a follow-up letter Repeat back commitments the candidate made during the meeting. A good way of doing this is to say, ‘To ensure that we are accurate in our report back to our organisation, we would like to confirm the key points that we took away from our discussions.
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A successful candidates meeting—how we did it... Lynne Philp, Coordinator, Hutt COSS (Hutt Council of Social Services) writes about their recent successful ‘Meet the Candidates’ meeting. |
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Our special focus was on issues that the social services sector faces. We were galvanised into action by one of our members working with problem gambling, and then we asked our members to supply questions they wanted answers to well ahead of the meeting. Having a good relationship with our local weekly paper, we rang the editor and personally invited him, letting him know well beforehand and following up with an email listing the candidates attending and also providing him with the questions that we would be asking candidates. So, we not only got a free ad beforehand, but also a half-page write-up on page 2 the following week, with pictures! This meant a good turn-out of around 70 people at the lunch-time forum. Knowing how politicians like to talk, we made sure we had firm rules around speaking time, with 5 minutes each for an opening statement around the general social policies of their party. They then answered 6 questions that we had supplied to them in advance, for which they had 90 seconds each. We had 6 parties present [NZ First weren’t able to send a representative], so all of this took around 90 minutes, with strict time-keeping by a tough chairman with a bell! This is very important, as we found out when it was thought that a candidate had been allowed to go on too long—a member of the audience was quick to cry foul! The remaining time was left for open questions from the floor, which took even more adept chairing. The candidates appreciated having the questions in advance, and it meant that we were given detailed policy where any existed, and it clearly showed up parties that had no policy. The areas we covered were problem gambling, planning for dementia care, benefits for those with disabilities, family violence, housing for the poor, and child poverty, with the overall question of funding for our sector being included in the opening. As our area covers 3 electorates, we allowed parties to send one candidate from any one of these, and contact with them was made by phone numbers from the party websites, and then via email address obtained from this process. Some follow up was required. Something to remember is that candidates have to attend a lot of these meetings, so to treat them all with respect, and give them the courtesy of a well-run meeting will help us all in the long run, especially as we want them to represent our cause in Parliament!
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Peter Northgate, Communications Manager, Electoral Commission, writes about the dos and don’ts of election campaigning and advertising. |
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Individuals and groups seem to be steering clear of getting into political campaigning through fear of running foul of the law, with misperceptions being a bigger barrier than reality for most. We get people contacting us who think they can’t put a bumper sticker on their vehicle to express a view, while others get in touch to complain because someone is making an effort to campaign! The most common mistaken perception is that debate or advocacy on any political issue is caught. It’s not—unless any advertising involved can be reasonably regarded as encouraging or persuading a vote in a particular direction. This has happened in one case, where the Commission concluded that the impact of the advertisement was essentially saying don’t vote for its target. But there’s a heap that individuals or groups can do before having to worry about legal compliance, and if they do cross placement or spending thresholds with their messages then the compliance requirements aren’t difficult. If you want to express a view about who people should or shouldn’t vote for through the news media, or by direct means to people you know (including your members or shareholders), or in a blog or online forum (provided money’s not involved in you doing it), or put up a campaign sign provided by a party or candidate, then go right ahead. And why not give money or volunteer your help to the people you do support? If you want to produce your own advertising material—like a pamphlet, sign or sticker, poster, or whatever—then you need simply to include your name and home address on it so people know who’s behind the message. If you want to spend more than $1000 doing this in respect of for or against a particular candidate, or $12,000 in respect of for or against any party then you need to list with the Electoral Commission as a ‘third party’. You can’t spend more than $4000 in respect of a candidate or $120,000 overall and you’ll need to make a return of expenses and donations after the election. If it’s obvious your advertising is supporting a particular party or candidate then you need their permission to do so, because the value will count against their expense limit as well as yours. And what goes for individuals, mostly goes for groups too. If you’re being partisan with election advertising, then all of the above applies—except that online activity isn’t exempt from the promoter statement requirement for a group. Organisations can also encourage their members to vote a certain way through direct communications without worrying about promoter statements, third party listing, or expense limits as long as distribution doesn’t spill outside the membership. It’s probably safest to note on such communications that they are intended solely for members. Groups might also want to do non-partisan election-related advertising saying ‘think about our issues when you vote’. As has always been the case here, a responsible individual needs to be identifiable, along with a relevant street address (which could be of the organisation). Care still needs to be taken that ‘our issues’ are not so closely linked to a party’s campaign or platform that the partisan threshold might be crossed. Policy surveys in any advertisements—set out alongside your policies if you wish—should also be safe so long as theyve been fairly conducted and reported neutrally without indication as to which parties should be supported or rejected as a result and you don’t say ‘vote in line with our policies’. We are only too happy to help people getting into election-related advertising, partisan or not, to understand the relevant requirements, because we want to encourage debate and participation in our democracy. People who share this view can also help by making sure people around them are enrolled to vote, thinking about their choices, and prepared to vote on the day. We know that many people don’t vote because they think politics isn’t interesting or relevant, voting’s a waste of time, or it’s all too hard to choose or do. Recognising this in people around you, and offering simple explanation and encouragement can help establish a lifetime voting habit. And, it’s never too young to take children to the polling place with you to share in an experience that’s also about them, and make it way more likely that they’ll vote when they’re old enough themselves! Go to: www.elections.org.nz for all you need to know as an elector, educator or activist. Also, www.ivotenz.org.nz is a “how to and why” site for younger adults. Our thanks also to the Electoral Commission for supplying the election image reproduced in this issue. |
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‘Poverty in an affluent society’—a theme for election year |
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The New Zealand Council of Christian Social
Services (NZCCSS) has significantly updated its information sheets, retitling
them the Facts About Poverty, promoting them with a poster and flyer
under the title Made Poor in New Zealand (pictured right). The image
is cleverly made up of dozens of report titles from the last three decades
that have focused on poverty in Aotearoa New NZCCSS has called for poverty-related issues to be a key issue on the ‘election agenda’, releasing a series of posters and brochures throughout the year around issues such as child poverty, valuing older people, the real housing affordability problem and essential social services. This initiative is called Let’s look after each other—Aroha tetahi ki tetahi. You can read more about it at: www.justiceandcompassion.org.nz . The programme began in March after NZCCSS received the support and endorsement of Church leaders from the Anglican, Baptist, Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian and Salvation Army churches.
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Sector News |
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Pathway to Partnership: what is it? An Overview from Ros Rice, Executive Officer, NZ Council of Social Services (NZCOSS) |
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This experience has been borne out by my experience over the last year as a member of the Pathway to Partnership Steering Committee—a group of Sector representatives and Government people sitting down together talking about ways to operate in a mutually beneficial way. Make no mistake, this is a risky business for all of us. The Sector people are aware of the responsibility they carry and the Government people are working in a way they rarely have before. But this is one of the most positive and encouraging ventures I have been engaged in. From my point of view, this process has demonstrated the willingness of Government to engage with us, and they have been listening. Examples of this are the preparedness to change to multi-year contracts and including CPI increases on an annual basis. When the funding increase of $446 million was announced by the Prime Minister in February, she also announced it would be rolled out via the work being undertaken in the Pathways To Partnership group. This has meant a huge increase in work as we meet together to find ways for government and the community to make best use of this funding and to ensure that it gets directly to those who need it. The focus is on families and children in crisis. I have been travelling around the country with Marti Eller from MSD’s Family and Community Services and Jocelyn Wilson from Social Service Providers Aotearoa trying to clarify some of the language and processes that have come into place since the announcement of the funding. This has been a fantastic experience as I have met literally thousands of people in our sector, and been continually impressed with the dedication and commitment they bring to their work. Trevor McGlinchey from The New Zealand Council of Christian Social Services has recently joined the group, and we can both speak as umbrella groups to issues that affect broad-based community groups throughout the country. Joining Murray Edridge from Barnardos; Jeff Sanders from Relationship Services and others from our sector, the voice of the community is being heard loud and clear at MSD level. Even if the entire construct falls over in the future, it is currently one of the best government initiatives happening at the moment that engages with us. Lessons from this process will carry on for a long time. For more information about this process and those on the steering group go to: www.msd.govt.nz/work-areas/families-whanau/pathway-to-partnership/index.html
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These are some of the questions being asked
in a Project Coordinator, Jan Owen, of Age Concern
Wellington has a vision. “So often we hear about how old age is
something to be feared or dreaded,” she says. “I want to show how
fabulous older people are—their wisdom, their passion, their sense of fun and
delight in the world”. What better examples to use than these four
artists, who have for many decades used their eyes and hands to view, explore
and record their changing world throughout their long and full lives.
There are works by Michael Nicholson, Anne Mu Curator Lucy Moore shares Jan’s excitement. ‘It’s incredibly inspiring to meet these passionate people, now in their 70s, 80s and 90s, who continue to deepen their appreciation of the world around them through their art. There’s a sense with most of them that age is irrelevant to the creative process, other than giving you more raw material to work with!’ The main issue has been the job of selecting from a lifetime’s work in each of the 4 cases. ‘For each artist, we have attempted to illustrate how their creativity has made a difference to their lives,’ says Lucy. |
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Some
very general comparisons for our sector in Aotearoa New ► We have a large sector in terms of the non-profit workforce (paid and unpaid) and proportion of GDP. ► We have a large proportion of volunteers in our workforce. ► The proportion of income from government is proportionally small. ► We are about evenly split between ‘service’ and ‘expressive’ activities—which is unusual —only the Nordic group of countries have a higher ratio of expressive to service delivery.
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Federation Focus |
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From our President, Fran Hoover |
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Since there were nearly 100 people, I was running the sessions in a series, with 30 people in the morning, 30 more in the afternoon, and the last 30 or so the next day. I had to repeat material and conversations in quick succession, and occasionally I lost track of which group I was with and what we’d already done. One module was about customer service. One of the trainees shared a story about her experience which perfectly illustrated the point. It was a great story—funny and pertinent. In fact, it was such a perfect story, I repeated it to one of the other groups a few days later. So far so good, but I mucked up. In an attempt to give the story immediacy I pretended it had happened to me. It seemed a little thing... Then, when I was about half way through, I noticed that the atmosphere in the room had changed, and I had a sudden, sickening realisation that I was telling the story to the same group who had heard it the first time, including the person whose story it was. I did the only thing I could do—apologised, and more importantly learnt the lesson —NEVER claim someone’s else’s story as my own! I know the people concerned forgave me, but I felt sick about it for months. These days I tell my own stories, or I share stories I have heard from others as just that—second hand. Sometimes I borrow a phrase from a friend who says “I don’t know if this is a true story, or truly a story, but perhaps we can learn something from it”. Stories have great power. They help us see what’s real in the churn of huge events, they form a bridge over the chasm of ignorance and misunderstanding, they help us connect as human beings. When I have listened to your story, something is formed in the space between us that can never be created by statistics. Tell your stories. Help your clients tell their stories, and for more than the fundraising advertisement. Stories are a treasure you can share, and end with more than when you started. To paraphrase the famous Margaret Mead quote: “Never underestimate the power of a real story, honestly told, to grab hold of people’s hearts and minds—indeed, it is the only thing that ever has”
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From our Executive Director, |
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The first report provides us with considerable information about how we look alongside other countries, and adds to a number of interesting research projects over the last few years—our own Value Added by Voluntary Agencies (VAVA) study, studies on giving and volunteering, remuneration studies in the sector and a variety of polls, forums and surveys about key issues. We are generally gathering more information about ourselves than ever before. This, too, gives us an opportunity to reflect on the comprehensive picture we now have of the sector and about how we can use this data in our practice and every day activities. I believe that together these provide us a reflection of ourselves—like looking in a mirror to give us an impression of how we look from the outside. Crucially, these studies highlight many factors we have in common across the diversity of organisations in the sector. We instantly recognise our own issues about: ► The balance of paid and unpaid work in our organisations. ► The proportions of different sources of income. ► Finding ways to balance service delivery and other activities such as providing policy input, advocacy, research. ► Connections between various and diverse activities such as recreation, health, welfare, information. These realisations build a sense of self and connectedness within the sector which is a vital underpinning to working collaboratively together. As we discuss these studies, we open up new opportunities for considering our strategic and management processes. Our planning is improved with better data about the environment we operate in, and we can refine and review our practice and programmes with increased understanding of the importance of different factors. We need
to take time to do this—new information takes time to absorb and consider,
and it is difficult to get it out and in front of busy people in many
different organisations. This is our challenge though—to use this
internationally significant information to better understand ourselves and
build a strong and thriving voluntary welfare community in |
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