National Youth Organisations Hui

Youth-led and operated organisations are isolated. They are consistently competing for limited funding opportunities and struggle to collaborate despite having similar missions and values basis. Collaboration is increasingly difficult within this environment, and a lack of shared learning opportunities is leading to youth-led organisations stagnating and dissolving, diminishing collective impact. 

The needs of our sector have changed. We no longer require resistance, but regeneration.

The disruption of the COVID-19 Pandemic can be felt by young people trying to fight for change, many years after the initial lockdown. Youth organisations have struggled to recuperate after the disruption and new emerging groups are unable to reach out to networks that once provided the ability for growth.  

Sustainable change happens through relationships, shared vision, and collective care. What rangatahi need is infrastructure, support, and community. Spaces to create, imagine, fail, rebuild, and thrive.

Gen-Z Aotearoa is building a network that centres love, connection, and the belief that young people deserve to grow in a world that holds them, not one that constantly asks them to fight to be heard.

National Youth Organisations Network and Hui

We’re bringing together rangatahi from youth-led organisations across Aotearoa to connect, share ideas, and build a stronger movement for the future. This hui will lay the groundwork for a youth organisation network that empowers roopuu to collaborate more effectively and strengthen our collective impact. We recognise how important it is to do things kanohi-ki-te-kanohi (face-to-face) and with a strong focus on whakawhanaungatanga. This is about meeting each other where we’re at and getting comfortable in the space. You’ll be able to talk with other rangatahi who get what it’s like to run a youth-operated kaupapa.

Alongside that, we will be working together to create the youth sector roadmap for 2026-2029, setting the direction for the future of youth-led initiatives in Aotearoa. The hui will be the launch point for the Gen-Z Aotearoa youth network that keeps growing and supporting rangatahi long after the event ends. This network will be a living, evolving platform where youth organisations from across the motu can share resources, find collaboration opportunities, and amplify each other’s efforts.

The hui will be a starting point, a place to gather, learn, and plan for the future. But it’s the network that will sustain and amplify our efforts in the years to come. 

By creating this foundation and roadmap for 2026-2029, we hope to build a more united, impactful, and sustainable youth-led movement in Aotearoa.

MORE INFO:

This hui is for rangatahi aged 14–25 who are part of youth-operated organisations across Aotearoa. We’re especially keen on hearing from those who are already making moves. This might be running a campaign, creating media, mentoring others, organising events, advocating for change, or just trying to fix what’s not working in your community.

To keep the kaupapa true to youth leadership, the organisations attending must have an operating body with least 80% of the people attending will be aged 14–25.

For this first hui, attendance will be invite-only. We're starting small so we can build the foundation properly. Later down the line, we’ll open it up to intergenerational kaupapa and take applications directly from rangatahi across the motu.