Hear Our Voices Values Exchange

Save the Children New Zealand has recently launched called Hear Our Voices Values Exchange. It gives all New Zealand children and young people the chance to have their say on issues that matter to them, and allows them to compare their views with what their peers are saying on the same issues, immediately.

It is the next step in the Save the Children Hear Our Voices We Entreat project launched in 2010 where they asked 199 young New Zealanders what they thought about life in Aotearoa New Zealand. The Hear Our Voices We Entreat report was presented as part of a Child Participation Report to the UN Committee of the Rights of the Child and also to the New Zealand Government. Some of the issues that young people wanted New Zealand to address were bullying, gangs, domestic violence and relationships with police. We believe that the Hear Our Voices Values Exchange will allow young people to explore issues and think about solutions and will also help us to understand and have insight into new issues and perspectives that young people are raising. Save the Childrens goal is to help ensure that children and young people’s perspectives are included and considered on issues that affect them. Over time, the = Hear Our Voices Values Exchange should become a tool for government, business, communities, schools and organisations to connect with young people and take their opinions and perspectives on board. The project is initially exploring six key topics that children and young people highlighted in our Hear Our Voices We Entreat report and we will use these as a submission alongside our own submission on the Green Paper for Vulnerable Children. The platform also intends to report back to the Committee on the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Save the Children is committed to improving the wellbeing of New Zealand’s children and young people in a sustainable way.