The Community Sector Engagement Group met with the Hon Priyanca Radhakrishnan, Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector, on 10 November 2022.

Volunteering New Zealand is a representative on this sector engagement group, which meets regularly with our Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector.

  • The Minister acknowledged that the sector had another hard year as we continue to respond to the impacts of COVID-19. She thanked participants for their hard and on-going work.
  • The Minster noted the Social Cohesion work being led out by MSD and the sector’s connection to this work and framework and asked the group to put forward what would be useful for the community sector and how the Government can support their work in social cohesion.
  • The Minister is keen to receive feedback from the community organisations on the Charities Amendment Bill and the submissions have been extended to 9 Dec 2022.
  • A cross government group on volunteering is now meeting regularly, as an outcome of the Strengthening our Approach to Volunteering Report. Michelle Kitney, Chief Executive of Volunteering New Zealand has been invited to join this group, and has attended her first meeting. The group has collectively agreed to focus on two top priorities: i) Reducing the compliance burden for volunteer organisations ii) investment in volunteering infrastructure and diversity.
  • All participants shared resources in terms of how they incorporate Kaupapa Māori Frameworks into their organisations.
  • The Group agreed that, while COVID-19 had been the catalyst for the establishment of the Minister’s Community Sector Engagement Group, there was value in continuing to meet next year.

The next meeting of the group will be in early 2023. Please email Michelle Kitney – michelle@volunteeringnz.org.nz with any thoughts or ideas to contribute to this meeting.