National Youth Organisations Hui
Youth orgs are underfunded, overlooked, and expected to do too much with too little.
That’s about to change.
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 solution (?)
The solution (?)
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.
Introducing the…
National Youth Organisations
Network & hui
This hui is specifically for youth-led organisations and collectives, where rangatahi hold real decision-making power (not just advisory roles). It is not for adult-led organisations that run youth programmes.
To be eligible, groups must meet the following criteria:
At least 80% of operational decision-making power is held by rangatahi under 25
At least 80% of daily operations are led by rangatahi under 25
If your group has a formal board or governance group: at least 50% of members should be under 30
This includes informal groups, collectives, rōpū, and unincorporated initiatives; you do not need to be a registered organisation to apply. If you’re unsure whether you or your group meet these criteria, please get in touch by emailing vira.paky@genzaotearoa.org. We’re happy to consider eligibility on a case-by-case basis. Young people aged 14–24 can also apply as individuals, and we especially encourage you to apply if you are involved across multiple kaupapa.
Applications for the National Youth Organisations Hui have now closed. If you’re interested in staying connected to the mahi coming out of the hui, hit subscribe or send us an email: team@genzaotearoa.org
What will it
look like?
We’re bringing together rangatahi from youth-led organisations across Aotearoa to connect, share ideas, and build a stronger movement for the future.
Held on April 17-19th 2026 in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, 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.
We’re setting the kaupapa. And we want you there!
Meet the Team
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Vira Paky
YOUTH NETWORK MANAGER
Vira Paky is an award-winning, first-generation Congolese-Kiwi children’s rights and youth voice advocate. With extensive advocacy and leadership experience across the public, non-profit and private sector, she is driven to work creatively towards a Te Tiriti-based Aotearoa that truly embraces and enables the next generation to be heard.
Vira is the 2023-2024 Auckland Council Youth Advisory Panel Co-Chairperson, Inspiring Stories 2023-2024 Youth Advisory Panel Member, and a 2023-2024 UNICEF Young Ambassador. Vira is also a Tāhono Trust Board Member, Create Happy Media Board Member, former NZ Refugee Advisory Panel Member and the former Chairperson of the New Zealand National Refugee Youth Council. -
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Abby Golden
YOUTH NETWORK TEAM MEMBER
Abby is a strong advocate for authentic youth engagement. As the Founder of Te Ara Tīrama: Youth Impact Network, she works to empower young people to recognise their potential and lead positive social change.She spent eight years involved in bullying prevention advocacy through Sticks ’n Stones, where she supported the development of social and emotional learning programmes, created learning resources, contributed to research, and facilitated workshops for young people and communities. Abby also went on to serve six years on the organisation’s board.
In 2025, Abby represented Aotearoa as part of the Global Online Safety Regulators Network, and works as a Registered Nurse in the Intensive Care Unit.
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Meg Lange
YOUTH NETWORK TEAM MEMBER
Meg is an advocate for a future where we are all equal. An activist and advocate in every part of her life, she is constantly seeking opportunities to give a voice to the voiceless, uplifting those that society tries to silence. From organising protest actions for queer communities to injecting youth voice into large organisations and projects, she fights to make a change. She is committed to justice and global structural shifts for good, showing through in her current studies at Te Herenga Waka, where she is in her first year of a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts (Politics and International Relations). -
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Michael Lu
YOUTH NETWORK TEAM MEMBER
Michael is a Taiwanese born university student who has grown up in Ōtautahi. He has been involved in many youth spaces such as The Hive, UNYouth, Gen-Z Aotearoa and UNICEF charity ball. He currently studies psychology and anthropology at the University of Canterbury, and works as a Kaitaki Ākonga in their Te Kakau a Māui programme.
Michael enjoys working in youth spaces and hopes to encourage and support youth to engage with their communities and use their voices. Youth mental health has been a core part of what Michael has advocated for, including being part of roundtables with the Minister of Mental Health regarding the impacts of social media on youth mental health and being consulted on the Suicide Prevention plan on 2024. -
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NARGIS GIRHOTRA
YOUTH NETWORK TEAM MEMBER
Nargis is an LLB/BCom student at the University of Auckland with a passionate about youth advocacy and gender equity.Previously the Chair of the Invercargill City Youth Council, Nargis has worked in local decision-making and strengthen collaboration between rangatahi and local government. She also contributes national-level insight as part of the Youth Representative Team at the National Council of Women of New Zealand.
Nargis has represented Aotearoa in global forums as a delegate with Global Peace Chain in Sydney, she collaborated with young leaders from over 100 countries on conflict resolution and international cooperation.
What will the hui look like?
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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 led by young people aged 14–25.
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Over three days, we’ll run collaborative workshops, deep kōrero, creative sessions, and strategy-building wānanga. You’ll get to connect with other youth leaders, share what’s working (and what’s not), and co-design what the future of the youth sector should look like. We’ll also be putting together the 2026–2029 youth sector roadmap.
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We’ll help to subsidise travel, food, and accommodation for confirmed participants, to find out more info about this fill out the application form and our team will be in touch to understand your specific needs. You’ll get a full info pack with everything you need to know, just show up ready to get involved.
He pātai tāku, I have questions!!!!
Who are you to speak on this Kaupapa anyways? What experience do you have?
team is made up of 20 rangatahi who do a whole lot of different mahi ranging from working on campaigns to lower the voting age, to working with our local iwi, to advising international organisations on youth engagement, to running our own youth organisations!
We’ve lived all these problems before, and at Gen-Z Aotearoa, we believe lived experience is expertise. But we 100000% don’t have all the answers, so we’re trying to bring together the different stakeholders to find them!
What are you doing that we can’t already do ourselves?
You absolutely can do this yourself. In fact, you probably already are. But why should you have to do it alone?
What we’re going to try achieve is a place that connects the dots, pools resources, and builds the infrastructure that gives you a leg up. We’re creating a network of support that helps you do more with less struggle.
Is this actually the solution?
Maybe? What we're trying to build is a long-term, sustainable solution.
But the truth is this might not be the ultimate solution yet. What we're doing is a pilot. It’s the result of thousands of hours of conversations and experiences. So if you’ve got a different idea or way forward, hit us up! This isn’t end game.
