Ranjna Patel is the founder of the Gandhi Nivas family violence prevention programme in New Zealand.
Work
Patel founded the Gandhi Nivas family violence prevention programme in 2014. The programme partners with Counties Manukau Police and Sahaayta Counseling and Social Support to deliver services to New Zealand men considered at risk of committing domestic violence, to support them to change their behaviour.
The "ground-breaking" programme removes men from the family home and places them in specially-run homes in order to support them to understand and change their behaviour. In nearly 60% of cases, men who have completed the programme do not go on to re-offend.
Patel is also a co-founder and director of Tamaki Health, a primary healthcare group.
Patel sits on a number of advisory boards, including
New Zealand Police's National Ethnic Forum, the Mental Health Foundation and Diversity Works, New Zealand's national body for workplace diversity and inclusion.
Honours and awards
In the
2009 New Year Honours
The New Year Honours 2009 were announced on 31 December 2008 in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Cook Islands, Barbados, Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Christopher and Nevis,Saint Christopher. to ...
, Patel was awarded the
Queen's Service Medal
The Queen's Service Medal is a medal awarded by the government of New Zealand to recognise and reward volunteer service to the community and also public service in elected or appointed public office. It was established in 1975 and is related to ...
, for services to the Indian community. In the
2017 New Year Honours
The 2017 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours were awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...
, she was appointed an
Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit
The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ren ...
, for services to health and the Indian community. Also in 2017, Patel was the
NEXT Woman of the Year in the Business & Innovation category.
In 2020, Patel received a Community Hero award at the
New Zealand Women of Influence Awards
The New Zealand Women of Influence Awards are an annual set of awards which recognise women who make a difference to everyday New Zealanders' lives. The Awards were first made in 2013 and were initially sponsored by Westpac Bank. In 2016, Stuff N ...
, for her work reducing family violence.
In 2021, she was awarded Innovator of the Year in the
New Zealander of the Year Awards
The New Zealander of the Year Awards, currently known as the Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year Awards, celebrate the achievements of New Zealanders, and were founded in 2010 by Australian Jeffrey John Hopp. Nominations are accepted from the gen ...
.
References
External links
The website for the Gandhi Nivas programme
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Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit
Recipients of the Queen's Service Medal
New Zealand Women of Influence Award recipients
New Zealand justices of the peace