3 July 2013
MEDIA RELEASE
‘It’s OK to Help’ campaign wins 2013 Public Sector Excellence Awards
The Ministry of Social Development (MSD) communications campaign, ‘It’s OK to Help’ has won the Prime Minister's Award
at the 2013 IPANZ Gen-i Public Sector Excellence Awards.
The Prime Minister’s Award for Public Sector Excellence recognises an initiative that has demonstrated excellence in
both what it has achieved and how it has achieved it. The campaign also won the Excellence Award for Public Sector
Communications.
An extension of The Family Violence: It’s not OK Campaign, the Ministry of Social Development developed a multi-media
campaign to give family and whanau, friends and informal networks, the language, confidence and support to challenge
violent behaviour. Despite reduced funding compared to the initial four years of the campaign, the number of people
taking action as a result of the ‘It’s OK to Help’ campaign increased.
“This initiative was based on ground-breaking research and collaboration with many agencies, local communities and those
working in the field of family violence prevention, said IPANZ President John Larkindale.
“It demonstrated outstanding innovation and vision in its approach and achieved excellent results for all involved,” he
said.
“MSD’s innovative and successful programme is an example of the transformation that is underway in the public sector,”
said Head of State Services and State Services Commissioner Iain Rennie. “Against the backdrop of increasing
expectations from New Zealanders, including the need to show effective leadership, initiatives like this that deliver
better public services will be the new normal,” Mr Rennie added.
The campaign included new TV adverts featuring cardboard cut-outs and the message that ‘the sooner you reach out to
someone living with family violence, the sooner they can get the help they need.’ This was reinforced using the website
with videos of former victims and ‘helpers’, media advocacy and media training with community spokespeople, a Facebook
page, workshops within local communities.
The results showed that of the 677 people interviewed, 307 had taken action around family violence in their home or
community; and nearly two thirds of those who raised the issue of family violence with others said family or friends
were seeking help as a result.
Held jointly between IPANZ and Gen-i, the annual Public Sector Excellence Awards recognise and reward outstanding
performances and achievements in the New Zealand public sector. The awards attracted 80 entries this year – the highest
number since they began in 2008.
“To encourage excellence in the public sector, it is vital that we celebrate success. This is something that as New
Zealanders we are not very good at doing. And there is much to celebrate, as shown in the high-calibre projects winning
across eight categories for the excellence awards,” Mr Larkindale said.
Tim Miles, CEO of awards sponsor Gen-I, congratulated the winners, adding their achievements demonstrate that innovation
and a commitment to excellence is thriving in the public sector.
“Gen-i is proud to have been supporting these awards since their inception in 2008, and to once again honour the
exceptional talent demonstrated by tonight’s winners. It’s great to see how the level of award entries has grown year on
year, reflecting the exponential growth in creative thinking and high performance within New Zealand’s public sector,”
said Mr Miles.
Winners were announced at an awards dinner held at Wellington’s TSB Arena on 3 July.
2013 Award winners in each category:
Improved Public Value through Business Transformation – joint winners
The Reluctant Customer: Transforming the Collections Operating Model - Ministry of Justice
IPONZ Business and Service Transformation - Intellectual Property Office of NZ (IPONZ) (MBIE).
Crown - Maori Relationships
Toi Ora - Bay of Plenty District Health Board
Integrity and Trust
Balancing ease of doing business and integrity - Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE)
Improving Performance through Leadership Excellence
Building a highly-engaged workplace - Land Information New Zealand
Networked Government
Registry System Modernisation, BCP - NZ Transport Agency (NZTA)
Public Sector Communications
It's OK to help - Ministry of Social Development
Working Together for Better Public Services
Joined-up Justice - Ministry of Justice, NZ Police, Department of Corrections
New Professional of the Year Award
Jeremy Palmer - Land Information of New Zealand
PRIME MINISTER'S AWARD
It's OK to help - Ministry of Social Development
ends