Last month, The Ākina Foundation (Ākina) released a white paper assessing best practice for social investment strategy. The white paper, Developing a successful social investment approach: Supercharging social investment in Aotearoa New Zealand, explores the range of opportunities that social investment could create in addressing New Zealand’s complex and multifaceted social issues. Doing social investment well could have transformative potential for government, stakeholders, and communities.

Transformative is a critical word here: it speaks to the potential of social investment in Aotearoa New Zealand. However, recent changes to how Oranga Tamariki funds its service providers threatens to undo that transformative potential before the Government can even determine how social investment will function in New Zealand, risking its broader social investment goals. There is a massive opportunity for the Government to respond to this issue – it presents a seminal moment that could set the standard for how National expects its social investment policy to work in practice.

One of the voices we called on in the white paper was Helmut Modlik, Tumu Whakarae (Chief Executive) of Te Rūnanga o Toa Rangatira. Helmut is unabashedly outspoken and has called out Oranga Tamariki on what he says could result in up to 30% of funding being cut from seven critical family service providers operating in the rohe (borders) of Te Rūnanga o Toa Rangatira. These cuts, he says, will have a devastating impact on his community. It is part of a wider change by Oranga Tamariki to only pay up to 70% of the maximum value of a contract until the services have been provided in full.

The rationale behind a social investment strategy is to make well-calculated, evidence-based investments in areas that will yield substantial long-term benefits. This approach recognises that spending money on early intervention support services today can reduce the need for more costly interventions in the future. However, the funding changes by Oranga Tamariki run directly counter to this logic. New Zealand is fortunate to have a deep and capable not-for-profit sector that has worked in partnership with successive governments for many years to achieve better social outcomes for our most disadvantaged. The Government has made no bones about being willing to pick winners when it comes to funding social services, however it risks making the same mistakes as previous governments by exacerbating funding uncertainty for service providers, which largely operate on the smell of an oily rag.

The Ākina white paper provided three key recommendations that would see Government  supercharge social investment: that it involves the expertise of the community and those experiencing the change in developing its approach; that it partner with external funders including community and iwi trusts, private capital, and philanthropic organisations; and that it adopts an apolitical, long-term horizon to seeking outcomes.

Social investment is about leveraging our capital for social good, across the public, private, and non-profit sectors, to create resilient communities and a more equitable Aotearoa. To achieve this, those working on our front lines need certainty that they can meet their operational requirements. The Government must approach this as an opportunity, and take urgent steps to ensure that government agencies are not undermining successful frontline services before the firing gun has even sounded on its social investment aspirations.