Scott Gilmour: Poverty – what can be done?

My article last week talked about the appeal to capitalists – indeed, all Kiwis – of fixing the issue of intergenerational poverty in New Zealand. It’s a moral and fiscal failure that a developed
economy and liberal democracy like ours allows so many to suffer.

It’s important to acknowledge the many donors who support our programme and other charities that are committed to breaking cycles of intergenerational disadvantage. The question is: How do we appeal to more of them? Even more importantly, how do we get the Government to pick up some lessons from the nonprofit sector as to how this can be done?

I want to talk today about two approaches.

The first is the I Have a Dream (IHAD) programme, in which I have been actively involved for two decades. I believe it’s a model that has wider potential for New Zealand.

The second is the idea of devolution from central government to PBIs (place-based initiatives). These are locally based, locally designed, locally staffed but centrally funded programmes to address the issues that each community knows best how to address.

I Have a Dream

The IHAD programme has been operating for 20 years in New Zealand, initially with a pilot project in Mt Roskill, Auckland, to assess if the US model upon which it’s based would work here.

It did. After supporting the entire Year 4 Level cohort (in 2003) from Wesley Primary School for 10 years, 80 per cent of them went on to post-secondary study versus 30 per cent of the comparison group (which was the year level ahead).

To prove that the model is scalable, we launched a new project in the Tikipunga and Ōtangarei communities of Whangārei in 2016, where we are now serving almost 1000 children across four schools. We also launched a new project in Upper Hutt in February 2022, to further prove the multi-community adaptability of the model.

The IHAD model is based on the philosophy of a consistent caring adult (Navigator) providing support and guidance to the children (Dreamers) in our programme. This starts from their first days at school right up to when they move on to tertiary study or employment.

Our Navigators provide wraparound services and do whatever it takes to keep each of our Dreamers on track, because we know that giving kids access to the right support and the resources they need will lead to improved life success.

It’s necessary to be alongside young people right through their schooling journey. This means being there to assist when times are tough, but more importantly, being with them to help encourage and celebrate success. These successes often come in minor steps… sometimes hard to see… often spaced far apart… so our Navigators must be there every day to notice these successes, celebrate them and encourage more.

We were pleased to recently receive a GoodMeasure report from ImpactLab assessing our SROI (Social Return on Investment). The report estimates that IHAD created over $5.8 million of social value in the Tikipunga and Ōtangarei communities for young people supported in 2022, with a social return of $3.60 for every $1 invested. This equates to $10,800 of social value per participant. This result puts IHAD in the top tier of youth development SROIs measured by ImpactLab to date.

Measuring the social impact of charities is important – but also incredibly difficult. Funders want to know that they’re supporting worthwhile programmes, and the programmes themselves need to continually evaluate and improve what they do. Through its GoodMeasure process, ImpactLab helps organisations to better understand, improve and communicate their social value.

Sir Bill English founded ImpactLab to continue the important work he started with the Social Investment programme while he was the Minister of Finance. They have produced their GoodMeasure report for more than 300 New Zealand charities in the past four years.

ImpactLab recently released its own report evaluating the learnings from 100+ of its projects conducted since 2021. The report illustrates why we expect this methodology to become a new benchmark for measuring charity effectiveness.

IHAD is a long-term investment. It requires sustained effort and investment for an entire generation to effect meaningful change.

Unfortunately, many Government and non-profit programmes are short-term, ad hoc and usually focused on a single “problème du jour”. They might appeal to newly elected politicians and non-strategic donors, but they are at best a Band-Aid on the problem, not a systemic solution.

This report from the Productivity Commission, “A fair chance for all: Breaking the cycle of persistent disadvantage”, found that these siloed and short-term government responses sit at the heart of our failure to address the cycle of intergenerational adversity. This makes sense when you consider that a family might have case workers from up to eight government departments visiting over the course of a few months, each one addressing distinct aspects (housing, income, health, etc).

There’s no integration of their case notes, no co-ordination of their efforts, time-limited follow-up, and crucially, no trust-based and long-term relationships formed.

How do we fix this? What can we do in the here and now to help families suffering intergenerational disadvantage?

Devolution

This recently released white paper, “Let It Go: Devolving Power and Resources to Improve Lives”, by NZIER economists Jullie Fry and Peter Wilson, outlines the case for greater devolution to grassroots organisations working within communities where cycles of intergenerational poverty persist.

I urge you to read at least the three-page introduction under “key points”, as it gives an excellent conceptual explanation of how and why devolution will work.

For an example of how this would work in practice, please see Manaaki Tairāwhiti’s report, ”Self-determination in Tairāwhiti”. Years of experience, along with sophisticated collection of data and insights, make a compelling argument for the progressive devolution of social services spending and decision-making power to the four local iwi in the region.

Central government has a role as funder and setter of broad outcomes, but it needs to let go of power and provide the resources that will allow local programmes the freedom to do good. Of course, we must ensure genuine measures of accountability for public spending are in place – especially measures that tell us whether the whānau needing support are actually getting what they need.

Families facing persistent hardship need intensive, trust-based and long-term relationships with local organisations that understand them if they are to create positive life changes. We, collectively as Aotearoa, have an opportunity to amplify the proven effectiveness of place-based initiatives and private sector-funded programmes to achieve exactly that.

What can you do?

First, please consider donating to IHAD, 4 A Better City, The Rising Foundation, Wesley Community Action and other such wrap-around charitable programmes. Please contact me for other suggestions: Email = scott@gilmour.kiwi (021 652 782).

Secondly, please contact your MP and urge the Government – all parties, in fact – to push for devolution of services to harness the full potential of communities themselves.