Developing our own NGO capacity

How do we represent the critical need to resource NGOs to build communities that support people to live well? And do that in a sound bite?

Community building is the stuff of the not for profit health and disability sector and most of the agencies that are involved in this work are old and trusted hands. They can call on a reservoir of work and lived experience, they have their mandate from their constitution and constituents yet all this is constantly overlooked as the feeding frenzy of government agencies and their associated contractors position themselves to "access, understand' and ‘support' the non government sector.

There appears to be a reluctance to fund the sector directly to do its own development. At Platform we get phone calls on a regular basis from private companies/contractors that are undertaking research, project work, scoping etc on behalf of a multitude of government agencies not only do they expect (and really need) assistance to understand the sector, they often want to use our sector knowledge and are surprised when we suggest they contract ( ie pay) us to help them.

Platforms Solutions:

• Address the systemic issues of NGO funding
• Pay NGOs the true cost of the services they deliver
• Understand the sector has deep and specialised experience and skills
• Fund the sector to build its own capacity
• Pay the sector to provide advice
• Eliminate the multiplicity of government agencies compliance, accountability and reporting

What others have thought

In 1999 vivien Hutchinson , an astute community commentator, addressed the Community Governance Forum attended by mayors and local government leaders in Christchurch and presented a paper called It is the Local that Learns - some thoughts on community governance. He refers to the work of Osborne and Gaebler in their book Reinventing Government in which they describe the role of government is to steer the boat, and not to row it, delivering services is rowing and "government is not very good at rowing".

Quote from viviens paper

"'The New Zealand public has found that the people steering their boat have put themselves at a distance, and have therefore been unable to learn from our increasingly complex and changing world.

Actually, these people have not even been in the boat. They have stood on the shore, consumed by the "targeting" ceremonies and "accountability" rituals that go with "purchasing outcomes".

It is the local that learns. There is a whole flood of information that comes from being on the spot, and being a real part of the fabric of a community in change. You can only learn this if you are also in the boat. And it is just common sense to say that our governance has to be closer to the life of the people that are living, walking and breathing the life of that community.

One of the things we have learned at the local level is this: our major social problems - jobs, housing, health, education - all exist in an environment where no-one is really "in-charge".

It is almost as though the big social issues that we wish to address have become so complex, with so many details within them, and you've got to know so much about everything and have effective relationships with so many people ... that we are kidding ourselves if any one individual or agency thinks that they are at the helm of any authentic solution."