Community Connect

ISSUE 6 • MARCH 2009

E-news from Family and Community Services

Welcome to the sixth edition of Family and Community Services' e-newsletter. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to tell us your stories, please email us on enews@facs.govt.nz.

» Download Community Connect Issue 6 - PDF - 120kb

Quick Links:

Issue Six - March 2009:

Te Anau Heartlands has immigration success

PAFT makes a difference

MSD computers put to good use in Cook Islands

Results Based Accountability reaps rewards in Hawkes Bay

Fund supports innovative positive parenting

Franklin Family Support opening a new office

Community Link Approach Builds on Heartland Services

Community Action Fund Round Four now open

Planning for success

Twenty parent volunteers offer to become teen parent mentors

Tough guys promote love and respect

Whānau Christmas event celebrates family

DVD provides voice for teens

Not-for- profit annual pay survey helps set pay expectations

What's happening in the community

Results Based Accountability reaps rewards in Hawkes Bay

When Pam McCann made the move from Child, Youth and Family Services to managing Family Works Hawkes Bay, she wanted to find a way of better expressing what they were trying to achieve and what a difference they were making.   The opportunity to attend a Results Based Accountability (RBA) workshop hosted by Family and Community Services (FACS) provided her with the solution.

This results focussed approach offers a fresh perspective on measuring performance. Its framework helps identify what a social services provider does well, where it could improve and how its work contributes to improving outcomes for New Zealanders.

Pam used what she'd learnt at the workshop to evaluate Family Works Hawkes Bay's work with families. "It's important to remember this evaluation process is about the organisation, and not about individuals practice," she said.

Her starting point was using this approach to look at Family Works' main client group and their particular needs. In the Hawkes Bay, 60% of clients are Māori. As a result of this initial review, Pam made cultural competency a priority to ensure her staff had the skills to work empathically with Māori families. She organised cultural training for her staff, as well as regular cultural supervision to improve the quality of the service.

Pam feels she now has a set of tools to better understand her clients and the challenges faced by the NGO sector, and she wants to pass on that knowledge. She recently co-presented a series of results-focussed workshops in Gisborne, Wairoa, Hastings, Napier and Dannevirke and which were organised by Family and Community Services.  The workshops were attended by staff from MSD-funded services.

Many participants were excited by the potential for their organisations. Not only to look at what they did well and how they could improve, but also to demonstrate the value of their work to their Boards, their communities and their funders.

"Information gives you a powerful tool to talk to funders, not necessarily about getting more money but to ensure the right services are there for your community," said Pam.

She believes the tool also has a role to play in fostering collaboration among social services providers. "Because this allows people to look at the bigger picture, they go beyond their own organisation's viewpoint to see their community's needs more objectively," Pam said.

» For more information on RBA, go to www.resultsaccountability.com.