Update from cmsport

29 April 2010

The purpose of this memo is to provide you with a further update on the Regional Partnership Fund as outlined in previous communiqués.
Last year we conducted a number of community consultations where the priorities for the region were established. These priorities remain as much relevant today as they did then and for the purposes of refreshing your memory I reiterate both the objectives of the fund and the priorities that were identified for this region as being as follows;

Kiwisport aims to achieve the following objectives;

• More kids playing sport: increase the number of school-aged children participating in organised sport - during school, after school and by strengthening links with sports clubs.
• More opportunities: increase the availability and accessibility of sport opportunities for all school-aged children.
• Better skills: support children in developing skills that will enable them to participate effectively in sport at both primary and secondary level.

The Kiwisport Regional Partnership Fund is about PARTNERSHIPS
CM Sport will invest in organisations and schools that demonstrate they are co-operating and forging partnerships with a focus on sport for school-aged children.   Schools are the obvious catchment zone for kids to get involved and play sport.  
Organisations will be expected to contribute financially to these partnerships in addition to the support from the RPF.   These partnerships will meet the fundamental Kiwisport aims of; more kids, more opportunities, better skills.

The Kiwisport Regional Partnership Fund is ‘school centric'
The RPF is centered on school-aged children.  CM Sport will invest in organisations which have programmes/projects that demonstrate a focus on more kids playing more sport in school and out of school.

The Regional Partnership Fund and Secondary School sports coordinators
CM Sport recognizes the change in funding allocations has raised concerns about the ability of some schools (particularly lower decile schools) to support sports coordinators.
CM Sport and schools recognise that sports coordinators can play a vital role in achieving the objectives of Kiwisport. CM Sport will give priority to investing in secondary schools that wish to retain sports coordinators to ensure no school is disadvantaged by the change in funding allocations.
CM Sport and schools will work together to ensure sports coordinators contribute to the objectives of Kiwisport - more kids playing sport; more opportunities to play sport; improving sports skills for school-aged children.

What the Kiwisport Regional Partnership Fund WON'T be used for

• Administration costs. All regional partnership fund money will go out the door.
• Subsidising existing programmes to maintain current levels of operation.  Investment in existing programmes will only be considered if it is for the purposes of expansion that will result in more school-aged children playing sport.

The following areas were identified by the community as key priority areas that Kiwisport projects should focus on.

1. Free sport activities
2. Sport opportunities undertaken in local or cluster areas to avoid travel issues
3. Increase school club links
4. Training of volunteers/parents
5. Increasing the number of coaches
6. Up skilling of coaching

Further on going consultation has taken place with both the community and SPARC, the government funding agency administering the RPF on behalf of the Minister of Sport, and as a consequence CM Sport has modified the processes from its originally stated position.

We are now providing the following as a consequence of the discussions;

• Applicants to complete a one page expression of interest form which is a variation to the originally proposed full application the first instance.
• We have established an independent Community Advisory Panel to provide advice and recommendations on applications. To assist the panel, we have introduced a weighting formula that will identify, but not be strictly limited to;

1. The number of partners involved in the proposal
2. The financial commitment each partner is offering
3. The sustainability of the project once Kiwisport funding has been expended

• We reiterate our position in regards to 90% of the fund being openly contestable with the other 10% being non contestable. That non contestable funding is to be applied to secondary schools that are now perceived as "disadvantaged ‘under the new funding arrangements announced by the Minister in August 2009.
• We have introduced a process that will allow applicants the opportunity of applying to the fund two times per annum. The first round of applications will close on the 31 March and the second will close 30 September of each year

We are still in the process of getting our investment Plan signed off by SPARC and once that has been completed funds will be available to projects that have been approved to date in principle. We at CM Sport see this ideal opportunity for you and your community to take a "fresh look and approach" as to how sport is delivered to and within in your region.

I encourage you to assist all of us in shaping the future of sport and recreation in the Counties Manukau region

Yours sincerely,

Russell Preston
Chief Executive