Barnardos Welcomes The New Social Investment Fund And Urges Bold Focus On Child Wellbeing
Barnardos Aotearoa is welcoming the Government's $275 million Social Investment Fund announced today, saying the initiative has real potential to transform lives — especially if it puts tamariki at the heart of its investment.
'This is a positive and timely step forward,' says Barnardos Chief Executive Officer, Matt Reid. 'If we want to improve lives long-term, we must start where it matters most — in childhood. Because we know that childhood shapes a lifetime.'
This week's UNICEF global report ranked New Zealand fourth lowest out of 36 high-income countries for child wellbeing. Barnardos says the finding is a wake-up call and must influence how social investment decisions are made.
'Our frontline kaimahi support tamariki growing up facing adversity, including violent homes, families facing impossible choices between food and rent, tamariki missing out on early learning and young people calling our helpline with nowhere else to turn,' says. 'We know the challenges. We also know what works.'
Barnardos is championing for two flagship solutions aligned to Government's priorities around first 2,000 days and preventing state care — Te Korowai Mokopuna and Te Korowai Rangatahi — to be considered in future phases of the fund. Both are designed and proven to create lasting change by intervening early and walking alongside children and whānau facing complex challenges.
Te Korowai Mokopuna places a whānau support worker inside our Barnardos early learning services to help families overcome barriers like housing instability, intergenerational harm, mental distress and poverty — before those challenges escalate. We know this approach works: our core social services deliver a social return on investment of $18 for every $1 spent.
Te Korowai Rangatahi is proposed a fully integrated Barnardos model of care, supporting rangatahi before, during, and after therapeutic residential placements – ensuring relationships and reducing future need.
'These are not short-term fixes. They are long-term investments in children's futures,' says Matt Reid. 'Because when we support children, we shape not just better individual outcomes — but a better Aotearoa for generations to come.'
Barnardos looks forward to engaging with the Government and the Social Investment Agency on future funding rounds and stands ready to scale proven, child-centred solutions across the motu that will generate significate returns on investments.
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RNZ News
7 hours ago
- RNZ News
Grant Robertson stands by Covid era spending in wake of Treasury 'rewriting history'
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"I remember, and I recount in the book, door knocking in Wellington Central in that '23 campaign and a woman thanking me for for the work that we'd done and said 'but you've had nine years, and I think it's time for a change'. "It took me quite a while to convince her we had only had six. It sort of felt like nine for people because we were so involved in everybody's lives, but I fundamentally believe the core issue was around the cost of living - and people look for a change often when that's happening." Despite that, he stood by the fiscal decisions made at the time. "Treasury and others, as has been reported recently, were saying to us 'you need to be careful about the impact of what you're doing on inflation, on the economy' - and we knew that. "But as I say, Delta arrived August 2021, we had to deal with that - and actually the Treasury supported us continuing on with the spending that we were doing. It's a bit of a rewriting of history to be frank, to say that they didn't." 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RNZ News
14 hours ago
- RNZ News
Marsden Fund says it was given only a day's notice of further funding cuts
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Reti said "the government has made it clear on several occasions that we want publicly funded research to focus on solving real world problems that can be commercialised". He said public good science was continuing to be supported, and the government would have more options to reinvest in the future, "with the economic gains that can be made through commercialising research and advanced technologies". Meanwhile, the final report of Sir Peter Gluckman's review of the science system is yet to be made public following its delivery to the Science Minister at the end of April. The long-awaited report was the second part of the Science System Advisory Group's review of the sector, and would include recommendations on the system's funding. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Newsroom
15 hours ago
- Newsroom
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