Deadline: 2-Dec-21
The World Health Organization (WHO) wants to collaborate with representatives of health and non-health youth organizations on key health and development issues affecting young people to co-create a comprehensive and inclusive WHO Youth Engagement Strategy.
WHO is setting up the Youth Council as a dynamic network for stakeholders to amplify the voices and experiences of young people, and to harness and expand their expertise, energy and ideas to promote public health. Your organization’s ideas, experiences and expertise will support WHO in its efforts to strengthen youth contributions to public health systems which will enable the Member States to meaningfully engage young people as key drivers in policy-making processes.
The goal of the Youth Council is to raise the profile of youth contribution to public health at a global, regional, national and local level and to support WHO in its efforts to strengthen youth contributions to public health systems through advocacy actions.
The WHO Youth Council is a WHO network for stakeholders to amplify the voices and experiences of young people, and to harness and expand their expertise, energy and ideas to promote public health.
Objectives
The WHO Youth Council will advise WHO:
- in its efforts to advance technical matters relating to youth contribution and involvement in public health agenda;
- on existing and new meaningful youth engagement initiatives;
- on fostering innovation, as and when appropriate, of new initiatives relating to youth and public;
- on possibilities to engage youth in WHO’s governance processes, as and when appropriate;
- by providing recommendations on the elaboration and implementation of a WHO Youth engagement strategy;
- by providing recommendations, as and when appropriate, on strengthening youth involvement in WHO’s work; and
- by strengthening networking and knowledge sharing among different stakeholders including youth organizations to facilitate and increase communication between the participants and other stakeholders.
Core Principles
The WHO Youth Council is governed by the following principles:
- to be inclusive and diverse in membership and structure, ensuring adequate representation from different stakeholder groups, geographical regions and income settings;
- to be transparent in all processes, including the operational strategy and activities;
- to ensure all activities align with WHO’s norms and standards; and
- to facilitate coordination among interested parties to advance WHO’s priorities on the contribution of youth to public health agenda.
Working Groups
- Working groups may be established subject to Secretariat and Steering Committee approval. The area of focus of the working groups will be decided jointly by the Secretariat and Steering Committee. The terms of reference for each working group are approved by the Secretariat and are of a two (2) years tenure, with possibility of extension.
- All participants of the WHO Youth Council participate in working groups. The purpose of the working groups is to bring together participants with similar interests, to share information and collectively work on specific activities that align with the WHO Youth Council’s overall mission and objectives. Each working group will have an area of focus with corresponding workplan, that is approved by the Steering Committee, which outlines its objectives, key outputs, priorities and methodology.
- A Chair and co-Chair will be appointed in each working group by the Secretariat. They are responsible for:
- coordinating working group meetings and activities;
- facilitating communication within the group, ensuring balanced participation of its group participants; and
- providing verbal and written reports of working group progress to the Secretariat and the Steering Committee.
- The Chair and co-Chair of each working group will report on their progress at the biennial participants meeting, and through an annual report to the Steering Committee.
Eligibility Criteria
For this opportunity, WHO is looking for:
- Global and regional youth organizations representing the following categories:
- intergovernmental organizations
- nongovernmental organizations (including patient organisations)
- academic institutions
- philanthropic foundations
- youth parliamentarians.
- The entity should contribute significantly to the advancement of public health and to the objectives, vision and goal of the WHO Youth Council and demonstrate documented support for WHO’s work and activities on youth.
- The entity should be active, internationally and regionally, working in the field of youth and public health with proven experience and expertise in the subject matter for at least 3 years.
For more information, visit https://www.who.int/news-room/articles-detail/call-for-nominations-to-serve-on-the-who-youth-council