This week Belinda Hinimoa, Chief Executive of Social Service Providers Aotearoa, was our speaker. Like many of us I had never heard of this organisation which has 250 members ΜΆ those which are not-for-profits and provide care in the community.
Belinda has spent over 20 years working in the social, justice and international policy areas in government. Her current role seems to involve the equivalent of herding cats in, around and through 17 government departments. In the two years since she started, there has been significant disruption to funding which has contributed to a lot of worker fatigue as restructuring is carried out to cope with less money being available. These financial cuts have continued.
Persistence in chasing problems has brought success. In one important case it has resulted in a report from the Office of the Auditor General which was scathing about the government practices which were investigated. The future is to work towards sustainable solutions and as Belinda said, there is still a lot to be done.