The Importance of Youth Participation in Health
Youth participation in health means giving young people the space, respect, and tools to help shape, implement, and improve the services, policies, and programs that affect them. Involving youth as equal partners leads to health initiatives that are more relevant and successful. In this post, we’ll explore why youth participation matters, highlight leading tools and guides, explain key theories of change, and provide practical tips and examples—including the Choice for Youth Flower of Participation model—for working with youth in the health sector.
Why Youth Participation Matters: Benefits and Impact on Health Outcomes
When young people are involved, health programs are more likely to meet their real needs and encourage healthier behaviors. Youth bring creativity, lived experience, and unique insight. For example, young people who co-design mental health campaigns often use language and imagery that resonates with their peers, making the message more effective (WHO, 2015). Participation also gives youth important life skills, such as teamwork and communication, while building their confidence and sense of purpose.
Leading Tools for Youth Participation
A number of useful frameworks and toolkits help organizations and communities involve young people meaningfully. Here are some leading examples:
WHO’s Global Standards for Quality Health-Care Services for Adolescents
This tool helps health providers ensure youth are involved in designing, delivering, and reviewing services. Examples include setting up youth advisory boards at clinics or conducting regular feedback sessions with young patients (WHO, 2015).
UNICEF’s Adolescent Participation Toolkit
This practical toolkit offers checklists and real-life case studies for involving youth in program planning and evaluation. For instance, youth might help develop friendly spaces in health centers or act as peer counselors (UNICEF, 2019).
Choice for Youth Flower of Participation
This model illustrates six levels of youth participation, ranging from being informed to leading the process. For example, in some sexual and reproductive health projects, youth are not just consulted but are involved as project designers, trainers, and evaluators. The Flower of Participation helps organizations and young people reflect on where they are and how they can move towards greater youth leadership. Reference: CHOICE for Youth and Sexuality, 2017.
Positive Youth Development (PYD) Framework
PYD focuses on building youth strengths by including them in decision-making, leadership, and peer-support activities. An example is peer-led workshops on nutrition or substance use prevention (USAID, 2017).
Key Guides on Youth Engagement
Guides can help you put these frameworks into practice. Consider these widely used examples
“Meaningful Youth Engagement in Health Programs: A Guide for Practitioners”:
This guide suggests engaging youth at every stage, from planning to evaluation. For instance, youth panels may select which health topics to prioritize in a campaign (YouthPower Learning, 2018).
“Youth Participation in Health: A Practical Guide”:
This resource is full of activities, like role-playing and group discussions, to help youth get involved in setting program goals or giving feedback (Save the Children, 2016).
“Engaging Youth in Health Policy”:
Here, you’ll find strategies for youth input in policy-making, such as forming youth councils or supporting youth-led lobbying for mental health funding (Advocates for Youth, 2020).
These guides encourage building trusting relationships, ongoing communication, and recognizing youth from all backgrounds.
Key Guides on Youth Engagement
Several theories explain why youth participation works. Here are some key examples and how they look in practice:
Empowerment Theory: When youth are trusted to make decisions, such as leading peer education groups or chairing a youth advisory board, they gain skills and are more likely to support healthy behaviors in their communities. For example, young health advocates may successfully campaign for improved access to contraception in schools.
Social Ecological Model: This theory shows how youth can shape their
environments. For instance, youth-led campaigns to combat stigma around HIV/AIDS can shift attitudes not just among peers, but within families, schools, and the wider community.
Positive Youth Development Theory (PYD): In projects where youth take on roles such as peer counselors or co-designers of health apps, they build resilience and relationships, which support long-term well-being.
Choice for Youth Flower of Participation: This model helps youth and adults discuss the “how” of participation, from being simply informed to making the decisions. For example, in a youth-friendly sexual health clinic, young people might move from giving feedback (consulted) to serving as co-managers (shared decision-making) or even running their own health outreach project (youth-led).
How to Apply These Resources:
Practical Tips and More Examples
To use these tools and theories in your work:
in summary…
Choice for Youth Flower of Participation: This model helps youth and adults discuss the “how” of participation, from being simply informed to making the decisions. For example, in a youth-friendly sexual health clinic, young people might move from giving feedback (consulted) to serving as co-managers (shared decision-making) or even running their own health outreach project (youth-led).
