The New Zealand Office for the Community and Voluntary Sector was established in 2003. It is administered by the Ministry of Social Development.

Purpose

The Office for the Community and Voluntary Sector's vision is for a strong community-government relationship. In practice, this means providing an accessible central contact point for government agencies in their work with the community and voluntary sector, and promoting good practice models between government agencies and their community sector partners.

Work Programme

As well as providing advice to the Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector, the Hon. Ruth Dyson, the OCVS has five inter-related parts to its work programme:

• supporting work to build the capacity of the sector, such as funding the Community Sector Taskforce to undertake community-driven initiatives
• building knowledge of the community and voluntary sector''', for example, work on the Study of the New Zealand Non-profit Sector that will help to provide a clear picture of the nature and extent of non-profit sector activity within New Zealand
• providing other government agencies with policy advice on overcoming policy barriers and addressing volunteering issues and issues of concern to the community and voluntary sector
• actively supporting the development and promotion of good practice and volunteering by government agencies when engaging with the sector, for example through the ‘good practice in action’ seminar series.
• promoting volunteering, and progressing the Government’s work programme on volunteering, eg: working with Volunteering New Zealand to develop resources for International Volunteer Day and Volunteer Awareness Week.

Publications and resources

The Office for the Community and Voluntary Sector operates two "toolkit sites" to assist New Zealand public servants in their work with community and voluntary sector organisations:

• Good Practice Participate
• Good Practice Funding

The OCVS also offers a number of publications of interest, which provide more detail on the community and voluntary sector in New Zealand:

• OCVS News is printed five times a year
• The OCVS produces an electronic newsletter periodically.
• Keeping it Legal E Ai Ki Te Ture – Legal Responsibilities of Voluntary Organisations (Dec 2005)
• Briefing to the Incoming Minister: Supporting the Community and Voluntary Sector for the Well-being of all New Zealanders (Sept 2005)
• Managing Well – Resources for Community and Voluntary Organisations (Aug 2005)
• Government Policy on Volunteering (Dec 2002)
• He Waka Kotuia – Joining Together on a Shared Journey: Report of the Community-Government Relationship Steering Group (Aug 2002)
• Statement of Government Intentions for an Improved Community Government Relationship

(Dec 2001)

• Communities and Government – Potential for Partnership: Summary Report of the Community and Voluntary Sector Working Party (Apr 2001)

The above publications can be viewed on the website or requested from the OCVS (e-mail: ocvs@msd.govt.nz).

External links

• Official OCVS website
• OCVS work programme
• OCVS publications