A group of kids in New Zealand Aotearoa learning about their rights!

Election 2026: Make your vote count for children 

The 2026 election for Aotearoa takes place 7th November.

Make your vote count for children. We've put together a toolkit to help you think about how your vote can help children thrive.

Right now, many children across the motu don’t have what they need to thrive. Children have a right to live free from harm, go to school, see a doctor, play, live in a warm house, eat healthy food, and not worry about their future.  

 What is the UNICEF Aotearoa election toolkit?

This toolkit explores four pressing issues facing tamariki and rangatahi in Aotearoa. It gives you what you need to dive into the research, what children are saying, what can be done about it, and how to start chatting with friends and family about the issues you care about. So you have all you need to help make your vote count for children

The issues the toolkit focuses on are: 

  • Keeping children and young people safe online 
  • Making sure children have their basic needs met 
  • Ending violence against children 
  • Building child-focused climate-resilient communities
child online on the computer

Keeping children and young people safe online

Every child has a right to be safe, including in the online world.

Children in the Gaza Strip face a harsh winter in makeshift shelters, exposed to the cold and rain. With Youngone’s support, we've provided warm clothes to 48,000 children—bringing comfort, hope, and much-needed relief. This partnership makes a big difference by keeping kids warm. While UNICEF continues to deliver essential supplies to families in the Gaza Strip, more support is still needed.

Making sure children have their basic needs met

Every child has the right to access their basic needs including food, safe housing, healthcare, education and transport.

Hakim and Amira wrapped up in blanked inside the family tent in the Domiz refugee camp in Northern Iraq.

Ending violence against children

Every child has the right to feel safe, loved and protected from harm.

Young people protest at the School Strikes for Climate marches, across Aotearoa, earlier this year.

Building child-focused climate-resilient communities

Climate change is a direct threat to a child’s right to survive, grow, and thrive.

Other resources for election 2026

  • Have you enrolled to vote? Make sure your vote counts, enrolments close 25 October 2026. Enrol now.
  • Check out On a Roll for youth-led events, enrolment drives, and community activations. On a roll.
  • Learn more about what different parties have said they will do for children on Tick4Kids score cards.
  • Watch the VOYCE Whakarongo Mai youth led political hot seat on 19th October 2026. Save the date for the live stream.
  • Watch the Youth Debate on the 20th October 2026. Register for free.

Keep up to date

New Zealand

The New Zealand National Committee for UNICEF Trust Board (UNICEF Aotearoa New Zealand) is a registered charity with New Zealand Charities Services (CC35979).

UNICEF Aotearoa operates from Level 5, 86 Victoria Street, Wellington 6011, New Zealand.