By Paul Hemsley

The Victorian Auditor-General’s Office has given a mixed grade to the cooperation between the state government and community organisations through the Office of the Community Sector’s (OCS) delivery of the Victorian Government’s $13.8 million action plan designed to strengthen the capacity and long-term sustainability of community organisations.

This analysis from Victorian Auditor-General John Doyle in his latest report titled Implementation of the Strengthening Community Organisations Action Plan included both praise and criticism of the OCS’ progress in delivering the government’s four-year Action Plan: Strengthening Community Organisations.

It is a sector significant to wider community because around 140,000 organisations in Victoria are responsible for the delivery of approximately $3 billion in government programs in health, education, aged care and social services, as well as sport and recreational activities.

However the government launched the Action Plan and established the OCS in 2008 following two government commissioned reviews including the State Services Authority's (SSA) Review of Not-for-Profit Regulation and the Stronger Community Organisations Project (SCOP).

These reviews examined the challenges facing the sector, including its future role, capacity, and relationship with government and gave recommendations relating to legislative reform, streamlining service agreements and grants, improving regulatory support, and improving collaboration and coordination both with government and within the sector.

Now in October 2013, the OCS has been given a major assessment by the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office about its progress in these areas since its formation.

Mr Doyle praised the OCS for doing a “good job” on delivering the Action Plan because of the diversity of the sector, the broad nature of the plan, the resources available and the challenges of coordinating activities across government.

“The Office for the Community Sector played a valuable role in connecting community organisations and coordinating activities across government,” Mr Doyle said.

However he also identified weaknesses with the planning, implementation and evaluation of the plan.

His report said that the OCS lacked a well-developed framework for risk management, monitoring, reporting, and evaluation, “without which the efficiency and effectiveness of the plan’s implementation cannot be properly measured”.

The report recommended that the OCS should improve its project planning and management practices to “increase the likelihood that its future initiatives and programs will be successfully implemented”.

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