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Part One: Introduction

Background

1.1 The Ministry for the Environment ('the Ministry') first funded environment centres ('centres') in the 2000/01 financial year. The Environment Centre Fund began with the objective "to raise awareness of environmental issues and the actions that can be taken on those issues", and with the purpose of "having centres that are accessible to the general public, disseminate environmental information and educational services, and provide a focus and meeting place for community action on environmental issues".

1.2 The annual environment centre budget is $300,000, with the exception of the 2002/03 financial year where an additional $300,000 was made available by Cabinet. Overall $1,800,000 has been allocated to centres over the past five years, with an average of 10 centres funded in any given year. The grant to centres is to assist with administration costs, including accommodation, purchase/hire of office equipment, salaries, and other administrative expenses.

1.3 There has been a shift in the strategic direction of the Ministry over the past two years. Correspondingly, the Ministry needs to ensure that the work of centres that receive Ministry funding reinforces this direction. A purpose of this review is to ensure alignment between the activities of centres and the Ministry's wider goals.

1.4 It has always been understood that centres would prioritise their activities around locally specific environmental needs, and hence that the priority and/or extent of activities would differ between centres. Nonetheless, the overarching vision for all centres was to act as catalysts for community environmental action and to forge partnerships within the community to achieve this. For that reason, the review has attempted to clarify the nature and range of the relationships the centres maintain and establish how these contribute to environmental action.

1.5 This review has allowed the Ministry to develop a clearer picture of current centre operations, and has provided information about the centres' capacity for future project-based work. The review will enable the Ministry to meet identified gaps and better support centres to align their efforts to meet Ministry objectives and the Crown's wider strategic goals for the environment.

Purpose of the Review

1.6 This review was commissioned by the Minister for the Environment, who agreed that a formal review was needed to assess the value for money derived from the Environment Centre Fund. The review process entailed assessing the environment centres' alignment with and capability to progress the Ministry's new strategic direction. This included:

a) communicating details of and expectations relating to the new strategic direction "to lead and facilitate the development of proactive partnerships of individuals and groups who, in turn, are then motivated and empowered to take actions that materially improve environmental quality"

b) identifying the current range of centres' activities, range of services and performance, and identifying key issues helping or hindering their ability to deliver proactive partnership services

c) identifying any changes/adjustments individual centres need to make to better deliver proactive partnership services.

Review Process

1.7 A questionnaire was distributed to all environment centres who had received funding from the Ministry in 2004 or in any previous financial year. Each centre was asked to complete an electronic or hard copy of the questionnaire and return it to the Ministry. The findings were then collated and analysed by the Ministry's Funding Community Initiatives Team and are presented in this document.


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