Winning an award for a parenting programme is "close to my heart" says REAP Tararua manager Claire Chapman.
The award for Community Based Programme of the Year Tangata Tiriti was presented at the ACE Aotearoa conference held recently.
REAP's parenting programme in wahakura wananga was in collaboration with Rangitane o Tamaki nui a Rua, Plunket and other organisations, to make a pepi, or basket for a newborn.
The teaching also included safe sleep messages.
"In the making of the pepi, whanau come together and learn to weave together and it's all about the love surrounding the baby in preparation for its birth and support when the baby's been born, not just for the mother but for the whole whanau, which is a beautiful way to prepare for a baby to enter the world," Chapman says.