WELL DONE: Award winner Maureen Te Paa (left) at the inaugural Social Innovation Awardsi. With her are Patau Tepania, Jean Beazley, Rowena Jones, Darren Critchley, Maui Te Paa and Chris Adams.
WELL DONE: Award winner Maureen Te Paa (left) at the inaugural Social Innovation Awardsi. With her are Patau Tepania, Jean Beazley, Rowena Jones, Darren Critchley, Maui Te Paa and Chris Adams.
A number of Far North organisations were honoured for their contribution to social well-being in Te Hiku at the presentation of the inaugural Social Innovation Awards in Whangarei recently.
Trophies were awarded in the categories of business social enterprise, best innovation, 'One to Watch,' best innovation creating social well-being forMaori and best contribution to social good by an individual, the winners then competing for the supreme award, which was won by the Ngati Hine Health Trust.
It was a successful evening for the Far North. In the One to Watch section, Kaitaia's He Korowai Trust was highly commended for its Whare Ora housing project, while Te Hiku Hauora received a merit award for Kete Hauora, the great NZ Health App.
Kaitaia's Far North Safer Community Council's youth mentoring team, Street Maytz, was highly commended in the best innovation category.
The best innovation creating social well-being for Mori trophy was presented to the Northland DHB for its Whanau Pack, which informs whanau about safe partying practices. Te Hiku Hauora and the DHB were highly commended in the same section, for their work in diabetes prevention and the Matanui suicide prevention play respectively.
Rintoul Civil Engineering (Kerikeri) won the business social enterprise category for its 'deconstruction' of the Kaikohe Hotel, and Neta Smith (Kaitaia Hospital) was recognised for promoting healthy activity in the workplace with a merit award for her contribution to social good by an individual. That trophy went to Maureen Te Paa, long-serving manager of the Far North Safer Community Council, who also placed second for the supreme award, narrowly losing out to the Ngati Hine Health Trust.
Mrs Te Paa has been with the Far North Safer Community Council since 2002, managing several successful programmes to improve social outcomes in the Te Hiku community, including the Street Maytz youth mentoring team, Project Wheels, Strengthening Families, the Work Mentor programme, and most recently the community development scheme to improve outcomes for youth aged 12-24.
