Social Science Policy
The role MAF plays in considering other agencies policies from a rural and agricultural perspective has obvious benefits for improving the performance of business in rural areas. There is a second role which MAF plays which is less well recognised, and where we find it is considerably more difficult to achieve desired outcomes from the work we do.
Much policy is formulated on the basis of economic advice and financial propositions which rarely consider the broader, but difficult to quantify, social impacts of policies, such as how the policy might impact on the social well-being of those affected by it.
Currently when assessments are made of policy impacts, they usually assume that people have identical needs, and will all be affected by the policy in the same way. MAF’s social scientists have encouraged policy analysis which takes account of the needs of people of different ages, life-cycle stages, cultures, genders and socio-economic circumstances.
For example, young people have different needs and expectations compared to those of elderly people, yet service provision has not always kept up with changes in community requirements as the structure of the community has changed. Central government policy analysts rarely have information about the numbers of young families or elderly in different locations, and are not taking into account the effect of changes on the operation of communities - like large numbers of women commuting long distances outside their local community to work. The solution is not for the women to stop working, but for community and government to work in partnership to provide the infrastructural support needed to facilitate community action to take account of these new trends (like after-school supervised home-work, sports and theatre groups).
Similarly, funding for services provided on the basis of the number of people in an area does not allow socio-economic trends, or population differences, to be acknowledged. Some Government agencies recognise that people living in low socio-economic neighbourhoods whether rural or urban, require additional and special medical, educational, housing and welfare services (eg Department of Social Welfare’s Community Funding Agency). MAF’s role is to provide other agencies with socio-economic and demographic trend data. To this end the Ministry has been carrying out an ‘economic and social audit’ - that is, building a comprehensive knowledge-base of the socio-economic characteristics and structures of the regions (and some localities) through MAF’s operational research programme.
By monitoring demographic, social and economic trends, MAF provides information to other agencies about the diversity of rural New Zealand, and how the social and community aspects of the regions affect the economic viability and sustainability of agriculture and other rural industries.
This is useful not only to central government for planning service delivery, but also to local government. Services need to match the requirements of local communities yet most councils have only a broad understanding of population size and composition, and most only monitor economic trend data.
Contact for Enquiries
Rural Affairs Coordinator
Sector Performance Policy
MAF Policy
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
PO Box 2526
Wellington
NEW ZEALAND
Phone: +64 4 894 0675
Fax: +64 4 4 894 0745
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