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18 December 2009
ANGOA members and interested observers gathered at 7.30am on 9 December for a light breakfast followed at 8am by a rapid run through the required formal AGM business. The AGM is normally held in November but it was postponed this year because of the 11 November Community-Government Forum.
The Chair's and Coordinator's reports were warmly received and the Audited Accounts were approved. Additional proxy votes, from members unable to attend, enabled approval of the Constitutional Changes by the proportion of members required in the Constitution. Links to the essential papers and reports are below.
Nominations were received for the Coordinating Committee, and all five nominees elected to the Committee for the next year. They are:
One nomination was received for the role of Chair, and Marion Blake was re-elected by acclamation.
After another round of coffee, guest speaker Len Cook spoke about some of the learnings from the "Good Intentions" report process, and Len's perspective on the continuing evolution of the community sector-Government relationship. Len noted that understandings on both sides of the relationship are rapidly changing, and there is a lot to work through, but to achieve the best possible results we really need to identify and focus on the questions that are really important.
Len was warmly thanked by all those present for his work on 'Good Intentions" and for his continued contributions to the sector. The AGM closed at 10am.
2009 has been an important year for ANGOA. It has been a year of learning and I would like to cover some of the things I have learnt by being associated with ANGOA and the people who are aligned with our work.
I’ve learnt it’s good to have Good Intentions. It is hard to imagine that last year when we had our AGM and Good Intentions was written up, but its influence still unfolding, that any of us would have believed the impact that it would have. So I want to start my report by talking about good intentions - perhaps its compelling title was irresistible to the new Government as they sought to put some action into the policy that was to ‘turbo charge’ the community sector. Thank you Len Cook and the team that made this report happen.
Good Intentions is an influential piece of work that has already provoked debate about our civil society, shape thinking and influence policy in New Zealand. I’ve learnt that things can really happen when there is alignment with well thought-out work and the energy of an experienced politician who is also the Minister. The subsequent cabinet paper has provided traction for the refreshing of a Relationship between the Crown and the Sector. Thank you Minister Turia
Our challenge now, is to get the resulting work to be as effective as our advocacy for change has been. I am yet to find where the conversation is happening about what the sector feels the relationship wants – certainly not on Community Central, despite the invitation from OCVS who had this on their work plan. What will be the shape of this new relationship?
What actions do we need to take to prevent the cross government approach to the community sector becoming just an exercise for officials that will “get Minister Turia off their backs”?
What actions do we need to take that will take the wide diversity of interests forward rather that rehashing the scripts of legitimacy, size and location we often revert to, in the community sector? “My mission/cause/purpose is more important than yours” Big or little organisations don’t understand little or big organisations” or “What does Wellington know?”
The framework needs to be more than just words. I would like to quote my colleague Pat Hanley in his recent work about the Framework.
“The importance of the Relationship Framework relates to the role the sector can play in overcoming the ‘democratic deficit”. This refers to the broadening of, in particular, marginalised groups in decisions which directly affect their lives and bringing to the table issues which would not otherwise appear on the political agenda. For this to occur there is a need for further movement from ‘government to governance’ and ‘representation to participation’. This requires higher standards of legitimacy and accountability on the part of the tangata whenua community and voluntarily sector. In the relationship framework the sector is not simply trying to strengthen its own influence with government but to create pathways for participation of the wider community”
Pat goes on to suggest, that under a statement of kaupapa principles sit frameworks for; Policy Engagement, Advocacy, Resourcing, Legal and possibly a fifth that of local Government. So it’s not like we haven’t got anything to start the conversations with. Thank you for helping us with the thinking Pat.
It’s been a year when we have learnt that social networking happens and matters. It can be leveraged and other citizens can be engaged for international linkage and impact such as with climate change or local social justice issues – just ask Paul Henry.
The immediacy of information about what is happening in the streets of any country in the world is with us and this was demonstrated closer to home in the Pacific, as our NGO colleagues were able to give their view of what was happening as the Fijian government tightened its gag on freedom of speech.
We have learnt that things are joined up and adult education means more than Moroccan Cooking Classes in Havelock North. The diversity of community voices that were raised during the cuts in funding to Adult Education must have surprised many people and demonstrated the importance that so many New Zealanders place on this inclusive activity. The ANGOA roundtable discussions were able to get the ranges of views that make our society so complex and yet so simple.
We have learnt that super sizing is no longer a reality TV show and that super cities will require super mayors and super democracy and super citizen participation. This will require active citizens engaged in active community governance.
ANGOA is fortunate to have David Robinson on the Coordinating Committee – you don’t have to Google David to know that he "has been a leading thinker and contributor to the development of global civil society for the past 40 years”. He is a great resource to have as we explore how communities will ‘do’ our governance now and in the future. Thank you David
I want to add our thanks to:
I couldn’t resist this quote from Margaret Wheatley in an article she wrote for the Non-Profit Quarterly – An Era of Powerful Possibility
“I believe we have been given one last chance to re-discover the power of community to solve its own problems. If we can come together as never before and work together to understand the complexity of current systems, if we can develop trust and respect for each other, then we have a chance at discovering solutions that truly work. But we must abandon our practices of distrust, fragmentation and control. It’s now or never.’
Marion Blake
I feel this has been a great year for ANGOA, and it’s a classic example of what can be achieved by a group of committed people. Despite me being out of action for significant time periods, the core group of volunteers that make up the Coordinating Committee: Claire-Louise McCurdy, David Robinson, Sharon Torstonson, Paul Gibson, David Culverhouse, Tim Howard, Peter Isaacs and Florence Leota, have more than filled the gap, and when I have been present their experience and wisdom have been a huge help and an inspiration.
Of course our biggest project in the past year was the Review of the Statement of Government Intentions for an Improved Community-Government Relationship, (the SOGI) and I’ll acknowledge the insight of Hon.Ruth Dyson in allocating funding for that, just a few days before the start of the 09/10 financial year. It has meant we were able to deliver the completed report to the incoming government, presenting it formally to the Prime Minister and Hon Tariana Turia. We gave copies to all MPs and were able to follow up very productively with Ministers. The report contributed significantly to Minister Turia’s subsequent Cabinet Paper, to the resulting decisions, and to the national community-government forum on 11 November.
This year we also organised 10 Roundtable sessions here in Wellington, plus 8 Research Forums across Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. My particular thanks to all the presenters who gave their time at those – sector people, university people, Ministers, central and local government officials – but also all the attendees who contributed to the many excellent discussions that followed the presentations. There is so much vision and energy in this sector, and so much willingness to move forward based on a shared understanding, I never fail to be inspired by these sessions.
Throughout the year we participated in a variety of ongoing projects, notably ComVoices, CommunityCentral and CommunityNet Aotearoa, where ANGOA is a partner in growing and developing projects that assist and strengthen the wide sector even though we don’t have the capacity to develop them alone. These all help fulfill the commitment in our constitution to strengthening the sector. Other ongoing work has included assisting Social Development Minister Paula Bennett with her budget planning and responding to the recession, working with IT Minister Steven Joyce on the follow-up to the Digital Strategy, and working with Revenue Minister Peter Dunne on a range of issues related to the sector. Being non-partisan, we have also worked with other political parties, just as we did with the current Ministers when they occupied the Opposition benches.
Internationally we have been active members of the Affinity Group of National Associations (AGNA), seeking funds to support our nominated representative Pat Hanley’s active role as Co-Chair. I do recommend reading Pat’s paper that he developed building on discussions at the AGNA 2009 Conference, at the ANGOA Roundtable, and at ComVoices. The paper is on the ANGOA website. Through AGNA, plus other connections, Pat and members of the ANGOA Committee have been working to try to develop ongoing cooperation by national associations in the Pacific, following the demise of PIANGO.
We are also a member of CIVICUS, where ANGOA Committee member David Robinson is just completing a successful term, and where discussion of New Zealand initiatives in, for example, sector-government relations, ComVoices and the parliamentary breakfasts, have offered successful models and ideas for the work of national umbrella groups in other countries.
I have mentioned the Coordinating Committee but I particularly want to thank our two Chairs; Claire-Louise McCurdy up until November 2008, then Marion Blake, for their support in the past year. Parts of the time were quite difficult for me, health-wise, but Marion and Claire-Louise have been very understanding when I just could not keep up. I’m now doing 20 hours per week, but of course it is never enough to do everything we would have liked.
I specially want to thank the “G” Trust, which increased its grant to ANGOA last year – besides enabling us to maintain our independence in what we do and say, this grant gives us a sense of security that we can take time to discuss and think about the longer term issues, for the sector as a whole, rather than being preoccupied with day-to-day financial survival.
I’d like to thank our sponsors and donors, some of whom have sought membership and on finding they do not qualify, have made a donation anyway. These include businesses, tertiary institutions and government agencies. And I want to acknowledge our various contractors, without whom we could not possibly have achieved so much: Len Cook especially for his work on the SOGI report, Pat Hanley, Sharon Hillock, and the Ideas Shop team.
I want to warmly acknowledge all the people who have supported me in this role, with their wisdom and their commitment to ANGOA and the sector, and especially I want to thank the ANGOA Members. Your support is a vote of confidence in the ability we have, working together, to continue to meet our purpose: a strong, vibrant and sustainable community and voluntary sector.
For the future, as the ANGOA constitution states:
“The Earth faces global environmental and social crises that are of international and national concern. Non Governmental Organisations (NGO's) are a vital part of international and national efforts to educate, raise awareness and address these crises and issues.”
Even as we meet an event is taking place in Copenhagen that is finally beginning to acknowledge the magnitude of the changes ahead of us. Civil society is part of the solution, an essential component of any strategy that might work. Governments, whether “democratic’ or of some other stripe, have successfully brought us to this point, either by deliberate action, by inaction, or rationalized laissez-faire. Too often governments have chosen to ignore the advice of civil society organisations. But the reality is that governments come and go, while communities and people live on with the results of government’s decisions. We as participants in civil society have a role in bringing about a new balance, based on genuine citizen participation.
Dave Henderson
ANGOA Coordinator
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