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NGO Program

The NSW Health NGO Program funds non-government organisations to provide selected health and other services.  NGOs often have the advantage of having greater knowledge of, and closer contact with, target groups or service users, which allow them to deliver health services to the community.  These services complement those provided by NSW Health and provide diversity and better access to health services for targeted groups in the community.

NSW Health has established an NGO Advisory Committee and has a commitment to developing an overarching policy framework which will further define the partnership between NGO's and NSW Health.

The aims of the NSW Health NGO Program are to:

• Support models of health service delivery developed by local communities which maximise access and support community participation;

• Build self reliance and responsibility for health at a personal and community level by the development of networks and self help initiatives;

• Ensure a range of complementary health services which provide ease of continuity of care and efficiency in the use of local resources; and

• Assist NGOs to provide a range of priority health services.

In 2008/09, the Minister for Health approved nearly $123 million to fund 487 grants across 338 organisations.  Government funding and regulation, together with community and business support have assisted the development of a growing human services NGO sector in NSW.

In light of the November 2008 NSW State Government Mini-Budget reduction in NSW Health NGO funding and other emerging issues in the NGO/Health sector, NSW Health and the NGO sector have agreed to undertake a Review of the NGO program.

NGO Support Stocktake

The NSW Governments commitment to supporting and developing human services non-government organisations (NGOs) is set out in the Working Together for New South Wales Agreement. A stocktake of achievements under the Agreement was released in June 2009, outlining NSW Government activity in the following key areas:

• building and maintaining the relationship;
• improving service quality and community outcomes;
• streamlining funding and regulatory processes; and
• supporting organisational and workforce capacity building.

NGO Support Stocktake: Developing and supporting human service non-government organisation in NSW