Our purpose is to strengthen the use of data, analytics and insights in social sector decision making to improve New Zealanders’ wellbeing.
The Social Investment Agency (SIA) was established on 1 July 2017 as a Departmental Agency hosted within the State Services Commission. We work with the social sector to create insights, tools and practices that are scalable, reusable, and of most use to the social sector. Our views are not tied to any single agency or part of the social system. By working together, we can understand and do more of what works for better lives. Social Wellbeing Agency is responsible for:
- Developing the architecture to assist agencies (and others) to apply social investment.
- Providing advice on investment priorities for government and monitor selected investments over time.
- Trialling and testing new approaches for targeted populations.
- Assessing progress and maturity of social investment and its practice across the social sector.
The four key themes of the investing for social wellbeing approach are not necessarily new, but combining an applying themes together is. The approach focuses on:
- Putting people at the centre of what we do.
- Making better use of a wide range of evidence, including data and analytics, as well as peoples’ stories and lived experiences.
- Engaging and working in strong partnerships and building trust.
- Providing clear goals and robust measurement.