Case Studies

RMS Refugee Services

When refugees arrive in New Zealand they usually believe their problems are all behind them and a new life beckons. For RMS Refugee Services (RMS), however, the work is just beginning.

The New Zealand government selects 750 refugees a year for resettlement here and RMS is the national, government-funded agency which helps them to resettle in their new communities.

RMS, whose professional staff includes social workers, cross-cultural workers and trainers of community volunteers, provides practical support for refugees once they arrive in New Zealand to help them with the many challenges of adjusting to a new culture and society.

Services and help provided include:

advice, information and advocacy;
crisis intervention and home-based family support programmes;
community orientation;
community linkages and referrals services;
volunteer training, deployment and support.

On a broader level, RMS is active on three levels. Apart from service provision it works in public education and refugee policy.

“We use volunteers as a matter of principal, because they are able to provide a link between refugees and their new communities in a way that paid employees simply could not achieve,” says RMS Resettlement National Training Co-ordinator Fiona McKinney.

“That means we need to find and train about 400 new volunteers each year. It’s not an undertaking to be taken lightly because volunteers but in a huge amount of time training and then helping refugee families to settle into their new lives here.”

The current soaring prices for petrol is impacting on RMS work, particularly in Auckland, where some volunteers are being forced to quit because they could no longer afford the costs of criss-crossing Auckland to help their refugee families.

“It’s a tough and difficult decision for them to make, especially as they have given up their time to train and pass a comprehensive, NZQA-recognised training programme,” says Ms McKinney.

“It should be enough that volunteers give up their time to help others. To expect them to endure a financial burden on top of that is unrealistic.”

She says one solution could be for refugees to be reimbursed for petrol costs but that Government tax and employment regulations make this extremely difficult.

“We run the risk or running foul of tax legislation if we give donations such as petrol vouchers to volunteers, or of changing their status from volunteer to employee,” she says.

Ms McKinney says that while the Government relied very heavily on the country’s Tangata Whenua, and community and voluntary sector organisations to provide essential services at all levels of society, the difference between the voluntary and commercial sectors was usually ignored in legislation.

“The volunteer sector struggles to find its place amid the ever-increasing number of Government rules, regulations and policies. We are forced to devote an increasing amount of time to ensuring we meet OSH requirements, auditing standards and so on. These demands on our ‘infrastructure time’ are not covered by our funding but must be done nevertheless.

“We recognise that these policies and regulations need to be in place but equally feel that legislators should recognise the true costs of compliance when setting funding parameters.”

Like many groups active in the voluntary sector, RMS faces continual funding concerns.

“Our funding simply does not reflect the fact that to achieve this number of volunteers we need each year we face unavoidable advertising, communications and administrative overheads, says Ms McKinney.

Since beginning work in 1975 RMS Refugee Resettlement has helped more than 40,000 refugees start new lives in New Zealand, working on three levels – service provision, public education and refugee policy.

More information about the work of RMS Refugee Resettlement can be found at www.rms.org.nz

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Otago Pacific People’s Health Trust

The success of the Otago Pacific People’s Health Trust in improving Pacific Island community health services in the South Island is dependent on the time and dedication of its volunteers.

The Trust, which is seven-years-old, focuses on improving access to services, encouraging the local Pacific community to engage in sports and recreational activities, increasing awareness of better nutrition and researching Pacific health issues.

The Trust has four paid staff members and three full-time volunteers who deliver these key services. The volunteers, who each work more than 40 hours per week, are all qualified social workers, one working towards her Masters degree.

Trust manager, Wale Tobata, who is a qualified pharmacist, says that central to the Trust’s aims is a commitment to learn more about the underlying issues around Pacific healthcare.

The Trust is working on a research project with a South Island umbrella group of Pacific health providers that will help them identify where funding and services in Pacific health need to be aimed.

In 2004, Mr Tobata co-supervised a study into how Pacific people use medicine. This year, the Trust staff are working with the University of Otago Medical, Surgical and Nutrition departments to look at diabetes predisposing factors in Pacific youth between the ages of 15 and 18.

One of the volunteers is also assessing gaps in health, education and welfare service delivery for Pacific and other migrant communities through 200 individual/group interviews in Dunedin as part of her master degree.

“These projects provide a window of understanding into how to plan intervention to limit the burden on the whole community, not just on Pacific people,” says Mr Tobata.

During the past year, the Trust has organised and run five camps and numerous sporting events for the Pacific community. Some of the camps are run solely by volunteers while the sports tournaments are only partially funded.

“The camps are a great way for our community to discuss issues specific to them, such as how to adjust to new foods and lifestyles,” says Mr Tobata.

“Sports days are also an excellent way to promote good health in our community. In July, about 300 children and young people attended with their parents and grandparents and played all kinds of sports together,” Mr Tobata says.

Like many Tangata Whenua, community and voluntary organisations, building the relationships and a volunteer base to provide key services to the community has taken considerable determination and hard work.

Navigating central and local government policy issues and setting up systems and processes, while at the same time trying to secure funding and support, has been difficult at times.

“Because of the high staff turnover at the District Health Board and the Ministry of Health Public Health Directorate, it was hard to establish good working relationships. The lack of institutional knowledge made it hard for us to access appropriate funding to assist in the development of services.

“The next challenge was creating and putting policies into practice as there wasn’t much help available. We ended up designing our own templates and systems which was difficult with a lack of manpower and time,” says Mr Tobata.

Securing ongoing and sustainable funding is also an issue for the trust.

A lot of Mr Tobata’s own time is spent sourcing funding to secure the future of the trust. To date, the trust relies on the generosity of donors and funding from lotteries and gaming grants.

“When you become a senior professional within an organization like this most of your time is spent looking for support and funding, which means you can jeopardize the core services. Besides traditional things like sausage sizzles and raffles you also have to do a lot of thinking outside the square!” Mr Tobata says.

Mr Tobata says the Trust wouldn’t survive unless it had professional systems and processes in place.

“We have a team of good, qualified strategic planners on board now. They include an accountant, a lawyer and professionals who understand the policy issues we face,” Mr Tobata says.

External audits also keep the trust on their toes in terms of ensuring financial, health and safety policies comply with government standards.

Mr Tobata says that the trust is constantly looking ahead to see how they can improve health services for the Otago Pacific community and is committed to maintaining high standards in policy and service delivery by meeting and exceeding the audit requirements.

“The shift to the market model during the 1990s was interesting as it changed the way things work in the workplace for community organizations. The rules almost require us to be on the same level as a private organization but without the time and funding it’s hard to do a great job in every area,” Mr Tobata says.

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START Inc (1987)

Christchurch community organisations are leading the way towards changing attitudes and relationships between the community/ voluntary sector and the statutory sector.

START Incorporated has been part of this campaign in Canterbury to open the channels of communication, build respect and improve relationships between community and voluntary groups and the government agencies that oversee their contracts.

Central to the change in attitude is the Canterbury Accord, a signed commitment that aims to develop collaborative relationships in the delivery of services through improving referral processes.

The Canterbury Accord has taken a lot of work to finalise but symbolises the effort put in by the parties in the Canterbury region to improve outcomes for the people who rely on the services provided by community organisations.

“The Accord really marked the beginning of the sector leaders and government agencies thrashing out their relationship in Canterbury. It was somewhat fraught at the beginning but participants moved through that bad patch to successfully develop an agreed formal document for the referral process,” says START manager, Maggy Tai Rakena.

Ms Tai Rakena says local networking was the key to developing the Accord and improving the quality of the answers and help the groups were getting from Wellington.

“We are lucky in Canterbury because there is a very strong network of social service providers that have grouped together and established healthy working relationships,” says Ms Tai Rakena.

“Understanding the difficulties that face other organisations really helps build co-operation. We find that talking about issues that affect our sector is important. We frequently find the issues are common to many providers and joint action is more effective.” she says.

The signs of improvement are beginning to show from the efforts put in by these groups. START, in particular, has managed to create better relationships with CYFS, their main contract provider.

“We have established really great relationships with a number of key people involved in CYFS. The South Island Manager has been especially open and willing to talk with us which has greatly enhanced the respect between the two organisations,” Ms Tai Rakena says.

Concentrating on external factors is a big ask for an organisation that deals with some of the most sensitive issues in social services. START, which became an incorporated society in 1987, is a specialist agency for the treatment of victims of sexual abuse.

The organisation was founded by three women who saw a gap in such counselling services, particularly for children and young people and their whanau. START also provides counselling services for adult victims of sexual abuse and education for the broader community.

The organisation is managed by a board of six who share a wealth of professional knowledge, from accountancy to medicine, to keep START on track.

“Our board does a tremendous job. They are ultimately responsible for the organisation and ensure our systems and processes are well-maintained and professionally organised,” says Ms Tai Rakena.

START’s approach to relationship building stems from the special nature of the funding systems that operate between community groups and their funders.

To ensure ongoing funding, START has to secure their contracts from CYFS and other agencies, such as ACC. Maintaining good personal links helps the organisation cope with the pressures of complying with their funders’ requirements.

“Anyone who contracts with CYFS knows that there are significant compliance tasks involved. More than half of our income is derived from CYFS so we are happy to do what we need to do. I would think twice about contracting for small sums of money.

“Getting out of the blocks required a lot of learning but it doesn’t feel burdensome anymore. In fact, the audit process is usually very helpful because you gain an external view of your organisation” Ms Tai Rakena says.

START tops up their income from contracts with grants from Lotteries, Community Trust, Christchurch City Council, Pub Charities and various other donations. The organisation is hopeful that through collaboration they can reduce some of the burdens associated with fundraising for extra money.

“Collaboration really is pivotal to efficient social services delivery. By working with other agencies around Christchurch we are able to save time and stretch everybody’s dollars a bit further.”

“I think that what is happening in Christchurch is indicative of the community and voluntary sector as whole. I have watched the process of the sector ‘rising up’ within themselves – there is a sense that the NGO sector sees themselves as professionals, so are asking to be treated with respect and in partnership,” says Ms Tai Rakena.

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Te Aroha Kanarahi Trust

A history steeped in family values and a passion for the East Cape community has helped a Hicks Bay charitable trust improve opportunities for its people.

Te Aroha Kanarahi Trust, established in 1989, is a voluntary organisation that focuses on whanau and hapu development through the provision of education and welfare programmes and by encouraging holistic wellbeing.

Essentially, the trust was established in response to the lack of social service providers in rural areas.

“People in town can take for granted the many and varied services available to them. We’re just trying to bring a bit of the town to the country to help our poeple,” says Whanau Development Coordinator, Ani Pahuru-Huriwai.

Ms Pahuru-Huriwai is one of two full-time volunteers that run the trust and oversee the training programmes it initiates. Her own experiences have instilled a passion for improving education opportunities for East Cape residents, young and old alike.

“Our parents gave us the opportunity to go away and be educated. It dawned on me after I graduated that all the energy I spent helping other people was really needed back at home to bring our communities back to life.

“Volunteering doesn’t put bread and butter on the table but we are fortunate to still have our land, language, culture and economic base. We risk all of that if we don’t do this work,” she says.

The trust runs training programmes in association with a number of Adult and Community Eduction (ACE) providers on the Tairawhiti and focuses on developing the foundation skills of locals, such as essay writing, literacy, numeracy, te reo me ona tikanga and computer skills. The aim is to encourage people to move onto tertiary education with the tools they need to compete at the top level.

Until now, the trust has struggled to get the funding it requires to make the progress it wants to in their education programmes.

“We are reliant on government funding, mostly because of where we are located. Lots of government agencies support us and without them we couldn’t do what we need to do.

“Still, the funding system is almost set up to fail organisations like ours. For about the price of what it costs to fund one public servant we are expected to perform miracles and there are no guarantees of where our money is coming from year after year,” says Ms Pahuru-Huriwai.

A steely determination to succeed in providing high quality education programmes, coupled with contributions out of their own pockets and the support of current providers, has allowed the trust to make some progress in getting ahead.

The trust is in the process of becoming an ACE training provider itself, accredited by the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC).

“In the past, training providers thought that the East Coast ended at Ruatoria. We lobbied to have them come to us in the Matakaoa district because we have lots of enthusiastic learners, fabulous teaching venues, and awesome scenery,” Ms Pahuru-Huriwai says.

Due to the high cost of petrol, transportation and time issues, many communities were disadvantaged by not having access to regular training opportunities.

“The ACE programme will open new doors for us because it gives us access to a new funding pool. We’ll be able to focus those funds on the direct needs of our communities,” says Ms Pahuru-Huriwai.

Among those needs is a desire to educate East Cape communities about energy efficiency and the use of alternative energy sources.

“In 2013, power companies will no longer be legally obliged to subsidise electricity for our communities so many people will not be able to afford power then either. We want to avoid the negative effects of that by teaching people how to be energy efficient and how to use alternative energy sources,” she says.

Despite the heavy administrative burdens of securing funding and time-consuming bureaucratic processes, the fruits of the trust’s labours are starting to be seen.

“We see rewards through our kids. Many of the ones we started working with when they were children of 5 or 6, are now young adults. It’s awesome to watch them grow and develop into positive young people with hopes, dreams and high aspirations.

“Giving them a good grounding will stand them well in the future, whatever they choose to do and hopefully one day they too will return home to share their skills and contribute to their community in a meaningful way,” Ms Pahuru-Huriwai says.

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Arts Access Aotearoa

Entering a prison armed with just a paintbrush and sheet music might not seem like obvious tools for rehabilitation.

But for Arts Access Aotearoa, facilitating and improving prisoners’ access to the arts has emerged as a winning formula for helping inmates evolve in positive ways.

Arts Access Aotearoa is a charitable trust, established in 1996, which focuses on helping the most disadvantaged communities in New Zealand access the arts, both as audiences and as creators of art.

“We work across a huge range of sectors. As well as justice, we’re involved with refugees and migrants, people with mental and physical disabilities, youth and rural communities. Often the people we work with are disadvantaged in many different ways,” says the trust’s executive director, Ann Sharley.

The trust’s methodology is based on a model of advocacy for access to the arts. This approach allows Arts Access Aotearoa to work on a number of different projects across different sectors and community groups. They can also plant the seeds of ideas in communities and allow other groups to develop them.

“The empowering and transformational role of the arts is well documented around the world. Having access and exposure to the arts helps disadvantaged people develop their identities, improve their social skills and feel included in our society.

“In fact, the recent government study ‘Pathways to Inclusion’ highlights the fact that people with disability or those who are disadvantaged benefit from social inclusion. The arts are one of the key means of creating social inclusion,” says Ms Sharley.

Arts Access Aotearoa’s work in prisons has had great success. Individual prisons run different arts programmes in collaboration with local tutors according to their needs.

A national programme called ‘Singing with Conviction’ encouraged inmates to develop their vocal skills, practice regularly and perform concerts for invited guests.

“Singing with Conviction is all about giving a voice to inmates, as well as providing an alternative form of rehabilitation and helping them reintegrate and connect with their communities.

“The first concert I attended was a truly moving experience. Most of the inmates would never have previously spoken in front of a crowd that size, let alone sing. The programme helps the inmates’ personal development so that during their time in prison they have evolved in a positive way,” Ms Sharley says.

The trust is now working on a programme called Storybook Dads. Based on a project that began in the United Kingdom, it involves encouraging inmates to record stories, either imaginative or new versions of their favourite childhood tales, for their own children.

“The idea is to train one or two inmates in the use of sound and recording equipment and these inmates will enhance the stories with their own special sound effects. Each story is unique and each inmate takes away a positive reinforcement for their families as well as tangible, practical skills in recording and technology,” says Ms Sharley.

Arts Access Aotearoa is dependent on developing strong collaborative relationships with other providers, government stakeholders and funders. They consider themselves fortunate to have their core funding from Creative New Zealand on a three year cycle.

“However, we still have to chase grants for individual projects which adversely affects our ability to plan ahead. We are a progressive, professional organisation but time that could be better spent on building relationships and developing and evaluating new programmes gets swallowed up chasing funding,” Ms Sharley says.

Because Arts Access works on an advocacy model it is essential for them to develop strong collaborative relationships with key stakeholders, government agencies and the communities they work with.

“The initial phase of the prison programme was so successful, we need to develop a good strategic plan to get all the regional prisons involved so they can track down talented tutors and prepare for future exhibitions and concerts,” says Ms Sharley.

“Funding is crucial to that. Without it, we simply cannot plan ahead nor build up expectations around this and all our other programmes,” says Ms Sharley.

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Delta Community Support Trust

The Delta Community Support Trust is leading the way among social services providers as a young organisation that has adopted a modern approach to providing community services.

Established in late 1995, the trust falls under the umbrella of the North Avon Baptist Church, Christchurch. Although the trust is based in Christianity it is open to everybody, regardless of religious background.

The Trust’s growth is testament to the success of its services. Originally the Trust consisted of just one volunteer social worker. Now, it is made up of ten paid employees and around 100 volunteers. They provide social services to a wide range of people of all ages, ethnicities and religious backgrounds.

The Trust recently purchased the Shirley Rugby Football Club rooms and is in the process of using the building to deliver an even better range of social services to the community while simultaneously improving their own sustainability.

“We are definitely here for the whole district. We lease the top floor out to a range of organisations, such as Mothers as First Teachers, and we hire out our facilities on the ground floor as people require them,” says Delta Community Support Trust Chief Executive, Jeremy Nurse.

The decision to purchase the building was not taken lightly by the trust, which established a separate legal entity to oversee the purchase, ownership and management of the new facilities.

“Delta has five divisions, General Services, Empowerment Courses, Friendship Linking (for the intellectually disabled), Cultural and the Evergreen Club for the elderly.

“The Friendship Linking service is 90 percent funded by the Ministry of Health and with services and costs always increasing it is a challenge to keep delivering the service on the original contract, signed in 2000. The remainder of our services are funded by the Christchurch City Council (25 percent), Lotteries and COGS (16 percent) and the balance of 59 percent from philanthropic donations and gaming trust grants,” says Mr Nurse.

This dependence on funding from sources that are not always predictable and reliable from year to year was part of the catalyst for the trust to develop their own facilities. They are now able to control their service delivery as well as derive some extra income from the space.

This approach has ensured that the Trust is well supported in the local community. Recently, they applied for community funding for a screen projector and karaoke machine. Those might seem like odd purchases, but as well as enabling the local community to hire the equipment and space for functions, they’ll allow the Trust to save costs in some of their service delivery.

“Now that we have our own spacious premises Delta Friendship Link runs its own monthly disco, attracting up to 100 youths with intellectual disabilities. Occasions such as this are an important part of their community involvement,” says Mr. Nurse.

“Many disadvantaged people come to us when they simply have nowhere else to turn. There is a crisis every day. But the public and local community are aware of what we do and how dedicated our staff are.

“Our staff have a wide range of life skills and are trained to recognize the hardships and misfortunes which present on a daily basis. They are passionate about the advocacy work that they undertake with their clients.” says Mr. Nurse.

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Pomare Community House

Finding solutions to community problems within communities is one of the best ways to deliver social services, as Pomare Community House in Lower Hutt has discovered.

The house was established four years ago to directly help the local community access social services and encourage people to help themselves to improve their personal situations.

Although the house has recently committed to moving towards improving their sustainability, their work and funding is heavily dependent on support from local and central government agencies.

“There are a lot of issues associated with that. We have a total of 22 funders and because it is so competitive it’s a toss-up from year to year as to who will be able to provide what. It is very hard to plan with confidence when you cannot guarantee where the money’s coming from,” says House Coordinator, Georgina Barrett.

A key aim of the trust is to try and offset some of that uncertainty by encouraging greater collaboration between the local agencies that the trust works with and the community.

“Sometimes it feels like the goalposts can be moved suddenly so it can be hard to plan. We think collaboration will make life easier for everybody. If there is a clear mandate as to which groups provide which services in communities then funds can be distributed better to ensure no overlapping, and better outcomes at the other end,” Ms Barrett says.

Pomare House has already begun the collaboration process by working with local businesses and organisations to improve the house’s sustainability while providing employment to local people.

“Training and upskilling are big things for us. Ultimately, if you have well-educated and employed parents, you have happy children. That applies to all communities.

“So, while we do spend time showing people how to find employment through organisations like WINZ, we also work to train them ourselves. We have helped many people develop high-end administration and computer skills which has assisted them in their own employment” says Ms Barrett.

While they are still in the early stages of developing better working relations with local government agencies, the house is committed to keeping up their strong track record of helping the community from within a community base.

“We are focused on things like improving adult education, encouraging people to earn qualifications, get their driver’s licence, learn to budget, look for employment. These are basic life skills but we don’t have any certainty about whether we can guarantee the services from year to year.

“It makes things hard, particularly when you cannot find any one agency that is accountable, but we’ll keep going because the community needs us,” Ms Barrett says.

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