Latest news with #SocialInvestment
RNZ News
15-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Budget 2025: Nicola Willis announces $190m 'Social Investment Fund'
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has unveiled a new $190m Social Investment Fund designed to transform the way the social services are delivered to vulnerable New Zealanders. It forms the centrepiece of a $275m commitment over four years to the government's social investment approach, with more details expected in next week's Budget. Speaking in South Auckland on Thursday morning, Willis said the funding would target deeply entrenched issues by investing in services that deliver "measurable improvements" in people's lives. The fund would be governed by the new Social Investment Agency and was expected to invest in at least 20 initiatives in its first year. The first three initiatives to receive support from the fund were an Autism NZ early intervention scheme, an Emerge Aotearoa youth offending programme, and a Te Tihi o Ruahine progamme supporting families in need. Nicola Willis. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone As well, the Social Investment Agency was allocated $45 million for parenting initiatives and state care prevention programmes. Willis said each investment would have robust evaluation built in from the beginning, so the government could track the fund's impact. "We're not talking about waving a magic wand, applying a quick fix or simply servicing misery," Willis said. "This is about investing in smart, targeted early interventions that not only make a difference in the lives of... whānau, but mean the Government reduces the money it might otherwise have spent on treating the symptoms rather than the cause of dysfunction." Willis said the fund would scale up over time, taking over contracts currently secured by government agencies. The government currently spends about $7b a year on social services from non-government agencies. "The Social Investment Fund is a rejection of the failed approaches of the past. It's being set up as a totally new way of working with you," Willis said. "I see it as a force for enduring change that will survive changes of government." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
15-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Big changes foreshadowed for social service funding
Former police commissioner Andrew Coster started as chief executive of the Social Investment Agency this week. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone The head of the Social Investment Agency - on the big changes ahead for funding of social services provided by NGOs for some of the most vulnerable. Yesterday the Minister for Social Investment Nicola Willis announced a new $190 million Social Investment Fund designed to transform the way the social services are delivered to vulnerable New Zealanders. She says it is starting small, but over time, more of the government's 7 billion dollars of contacts with NGOs would come under the auspices of the agency. The announcement came on the same day as a scathing report by the Auditor General found that Oranga Tamariki didn't look at the impacton children and families when it made abrupt cuts to social service contracts last year. Andrew Coster, former Police Commissioner, is the Chief Executive of the Social Investment Agency and will oversee the new fund.
RNZ News
14-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Nicola Willis announces $190m 'Social Investment Fund'
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has unveiled a new $190m Social Investment Fund designed to transform the way the social services are delivered to vulnerable New Zealanders. It forms the centrepiece of a $275m commitment over four years to the government's social investment approach, with more details expected in next week's Budget. Speaking in South Auckland on Thursday morning, Willis said the funding would target deeply entrenched issues by investing in services that deliver "measurable improvements" in people's lives. The fund would be governed by the new Social Investment Agency and was expected to invest in at least 20 initiatives in its first year. The first three initiatives to receive support from the fund were an Autism NZ early intervention scheme, an Emerge Aotearoa youth offending programme, and a Te Tihi o Ruahine progamme supporting families in need. Nicola Willis, Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone As well, the Social Investment Agency was allocated $45 million for parenting initiatives and state care prevention programmes. Willis said each investment would have robust evaluation built in from the beginning, so the government could track the fund's impact. "We're not talking about waving a magic wand, applying a quick fix or simply servicing misery," Willis said. "This is about investing in smart, targeted early interventions that not only make a difference in the lives of... whānau, but mean the Government reduces the money it might otherwise have spent on treating the symptoms rather than the cause of dysfunction." Willis said the fund would scale up over time, taking over contracts currently secured by government agencies. The government currently spends about $7b a year on social services from non-government agencies. "The Social Investment Fund is a rejection of the failed approaches of the past. It's being set up as a totally new way of working with you," Willis said. "I see it as a force for enduring change that will survive changes of government." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Scoop
14-05-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Social Investment Fund To Help Vulnerable Kiwis
Minister for Social Investment Vulnerable families and young New Zealanders will benefit from a new approach to the delivery of social services with a $275 million boost to Vote Social Investment, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says. 'The centrepiece of the Social Investment Budget package is a new $190 million Social Investment Fund that will make carefully targeted investments designed to improve the lives of New Zealanders in need. 'The Fund is about more than new money. It's about Government investing earlier, smarter and with much more transparent measurement of the impact interventions are having for the people they are designed to help. 'The Fund will invest in services that deliver measurable improvements in people's lives, guided by data and evidence. It will support both new approaches and strengthen existing services that work, to improve the Government's return on investment and change vulnerable people's lives for the better. 'Over the next year the fund will invest in at least 20 initiatives, using a completely different contracting approach than that traditionally used by Government agencies. 'Each initiative will have robust evaluation built into it from the start, so that its impact can be tracked. 'The Government is already investing around $7 billion each year buying social services from non-government agencies. Despite this, we know too many New Zealanders remain trapped in cycles of inter-generational dysfunction. Communities, NGOS and iwi all tell us they could have much more impact in people's lives if the Government was smarter about the way it selects, contracts, and monitors the social services we fund. 'The Fund will start relatively small and grow over time as it proves itself, setting up the infrastructure for large scale delivery of integrated contracts with support from the social sector. 'The Fund will be the catalyst for improving the way Government works with communities to drive social impact. 'Over the next two to three years, I expect to see significant amounts of funding transferred from current social services to the Social Investment Fund as communities and providers develop new approaches to working with government.' As part of the $275 million, the Budget also provides: $20 million for programmes that strengthen parenting in the first 2000 days of a child's life, reducing harm and setting children up for better long-term outcomes; and $25 million to help prevent children and vulnerable adults from entering state care, as part of the Crown's response to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. Notes: The first three initiatives funded by the Social Investment Fund are: Autism New Zealand's early screening and intervention programme that provides services and support for family/whānau, caregivers and professionals. Ka Puta Ka Ora Emerge Aotearoa's evidence-based approach to tackling youth offending and truancy that will help at least 80 families each year to address youth offending and truancy; and The He Piringa Whare programme with Te Tihi o Ruahine an alliance of nine hapū, iwi, Māori organisations and providers that will support 130 families at a time with a wraparound service that delivers stable housing, education, training and employment, and other services
RNZ News
14-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Watch live: Nicola Willis announces $190m 'Social Investment Fund'
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has unveiled a new $190m Social Investment Fund designed to transform the way the social services are delivered to vulnerable New Zealanders. In a pre-Budget speech in South Auckland on Thursday morning, Willis said the funding - spread over four years - would target deeply entrenched issues by investing in services that deliver "measurable improvements" in people's lives. The fund would be governed by the new Social Investment Agency and was expected to invest in at least 20 initiatives in its first year. The first three initiatives to receive support from the fund were an Autism NZ early intervention scheme, an Emerge Aotearoa youth offending programme, and a Te Tihi o Ruahine progamme supporting families in need. As well, the Social Investment Agency was allocated $45 million for parenting initiatives and state care prevention programmes. More to come... Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
