VOYCE – Whakarongo Mai:
Backing rangatahi leadership

Rangatahi who have experienced care know the care system better than most. Their knowledge and ideas
need to be part of decisions about how it works.

VOYCE - Whakarongo Mai (Voice of the Young and
Care Experienced – Listen to Me) is an independent organisation that advocates for tamariki and rangatahi
in care across Aotearoa. It was co-designed by and for care-experienced young people, and their voices remain at the centre of its mahi.

Te Waka Rangatira is VOYCE’s youth leadership movement. Like a waka, it has a place for everyone:

Waenga – getting on the waka. Rangatahi connect with VOYCE and with each other through tūhono (connection) events, one-to-one advocacy and online.

Tauihu – paddling the waka. Rangatahi build their skills and amplify their voices through wānanga, collective advocacy, Regional Youth Councils and feedback on policy.

Taurapa – navigating the waka. Rangatahi lead systemic advocacy, speak to select committees and media, and act as tuākana for those coming through behind them.

Rangatahi choose how they take part and move at their own pace, with VOYCE kaimahi alongside them.

We established our Youth Leadership Fund in 2025 to open up opportunities for rangatahi who often miss out. Guided by Positive Youth Development (see here for more on that), we back mahi that builds on their strengths, supports wellbeing and belonging, and gives rangatahi a real say.

VOYCE’s approach fits this kaupapa. Leadership grows from within the care-experienced community, and the relationships continue as rangatahi find their own way into leadership.

Our one-off funding supports care-experienced rangatahi in Ōtautahi through:

Te Waka Rangatira in Ōtautahi: these are connection events and leadership opportunities where rangatahi
can get on the waka, find their people and grow
their confidence.

A National Care-Experienced Youth Advocate for Ōtautahi: this is one of six paid roles on VOYCE’s new national rōpū of care-experienced leaders. The
advocate grows a network of rangatahi in Ōtautahi
and brings their voices into national advocacy.

Supporting young care-experienced leaders attending Kōkiri 2026: Kōkiri is a national conference where care-experienced rangatahi, practitioners and decision-makers come together to help shape care policy and practice.

Regional Youth Council members have already helped shape research, spoken to select committees and led community events. These experiences build confidence and friendships while bringing rangatahi perspectives into decisions affecting young people in care. National Youth Advocates connect this local mahi to the national level. They take Ōtautahi voices into national forums and bring that kōrero back home. That’s where systems change happens: leadership grows within the care-experienced community, so the people who know the system firsthand can help change it.