The Social Investment Agency

Stuff reports:

The Government is creating a new agency as part of efforts to provide more “rigorous and evidence-based” assistance to vulnerable Kiwis.

The Social Investment Agency, to be launched in July, will encourage greater use of data by social sector agencies when making decisions about what sort of support to provide.

Social Investment Minister Amy Adams said the work was about better understanding the needs of vulnerable Kiwis and how government initiatives affected someone across their whole life, not just in one specific area.

“Greater use of data and evidence, and a focus on measuring outcomes, means we can create a system that looks for more opportunities to intervene sooner and more effectively.”

I regard the social investment work as important as the welfare reforms in terms of the potential to improve people’s lives.