“The Vaka Pride programme helps  address the social, environmental and cultural issues that impact our people including our tourism industry”” said Destination Development Coordinator, Sieni Tiraa from Cook Islands Tourism.

The winners under the three categories for the Vaka Pride programme, Akono I te Ao Rangi, Tupuranga Tangata and Peu Maori each highlight areas that impact the tourism industry.

Akono I te Ao Rangi category awards community groups who continue to keep public areas around the island clean. These results are taken from the monthly clean up reports provided by the Ministry of Internal Affairs beautification project within the ten villages on Rarotonga. For this round this section was designated a total of $3,000.

Tupapa/Maraerenga village placed first and was awarded $1,500 to contribute towards their future community programmes. Tupapa/Maraerenga scored well for their extra cleaning efforts around the clinics and the roads that are not part of their cleaning contracts. Murienua who placed second was awarded $1,000 for their efforts towards their ongoing cleaning. Oire Matavera placed third and was awarded $500 for their improved cleaning efforts along the intake road and the replanting of Rauti plants in the area.

Tupuranga Tangata focuses on individuals or groups that address social issues in the community and the committee designated $3,000 towards this category.  For this round, the Vaka Pride committee focused on addressing the ongoing wandering dog’s issues. Two nominations were identified as organisations who work tirelessly within this section and they included Cook Islands SPCA and Te Are Manu.  Both nominees were equally placed and each received $1,500 to help strengthen their programmes.

The final category, Peu Maori focuses on areas that impact our culture and way of living. A total of $4,000 was allocated for this category. The Vaka Pride committee focused on the school gardens as a project administered through the Ministry of Agriculture who are also a member of the Vaka Pride committee. The committee agreed for $400 to be equally distributed to each of the ten schools for their gardens.

Round 20 of the Vaka Pride programme is scheduled to take place in October of this year. To nominate a group or individual(s) who are Mana Tiaki Champions or are actively finding solutions to keep our culture alive and our island safe and clean, please contact Sieni Tiraa at Cook Islands Tourism.