Fears, constraints and contracts in the community and voluntary sector

A study has been conducted in response to indications of a lack of independence of New Zealand's community and voluntary sector from the state. Fears, constraints, and contracts: The democratic reality for New Zealand’s community and voluntary sector by Dr Sandra Grey and Dr Charles Sedgwick considers the voice of the community and voluntary sector in informing public debate and political decision-making.

The study found a major political shift from a welfare state to a neo-liberal contract state contributed to current attitudes towards the sector's involvement in political debate and decision-making. This resulted in some organisations being constrained to the point of silence. This silence was achieved through state funded contracts with strong auditing, accountability and evaluation requirements which also left little room for programme experimentation and innovation.

The study concludes that this contractual environment has culminated in a lack of trust which discourages debate and results in a subverted role of the sector.  It states a richer democracy and stronger policy-making could be achieved if the sector contributed more to political decision making.

The researchers collected views on the sector's engagement in political decision-making, democracy, and political advocacy from 153 organisations. They covered the periods of Labour-led coalitions from 1999 to 2008 and the National-led coalitions for part of 2008 and into 2009.

Sandra Grey was interviewed on Radio NZ's Sunday Morning in May 2013:

"Dr Sandra Grey and her colleague Dr Charles Sedgwick asked NGOs if democracy, as measured by the ability of civil society organisations to have a voice in political debate, is flourishing or languishing in New Zealand. The response indicates that democracy is being 'strangled' by the way in which this and the previous government administer funding via contracts, with over half of the NGOs surveyed saying that organisations which dissent against the government line are likely to lose their government funding."