Example 4

Retirement Commission (Whiriwhiria), Statement of Intent 2008/11, page 8

Our goals and outcomes

The Retirement Commission’s vision is that New Zealanders are financially sorted.¹

There are two high level goals for New Zealand society that we seek to achieve both through our own work, and through working with many other organisations, groups and individuals. These are:

• New Zealanders are financially well prepared for retirement.
• New Zealanders living in retirement villages have informed choice.

Outcomes

We identify four contributing outcomes that the Commission’s work is directly aimed at achieving, and which contribute to these higher level goals. The four contributing outcomes of the Commission are:

1. New Zealanders are well educated in financial matters and can make informed financial decisions throughout their lives.
2. The financial services sector is trusted.
3. Government’s retirement income policies are effective and stable.
4. All retirement villages meet societal expectations and current quality standards.

Outcome measures

We have found it challenging to identify useful, quantifiable and attributable outcome measures to judge future performance. As many other factors influence outcomes, to suggest that the Commission’s activities alone have resulted in a particular outcome is not only misleading, but may take credit (or blame) for the work of other individuals or agencies. Nevertheless, we have described the type of measures we will use and, where possible, included some current numeric indicators and the expected change.

1: Our vision and goals complement the government social sector agencies’ common outcome of an inclusive New Zealand where all people are able to participate in the social and economic life of their communities.