New Invitation to Join Community Call on Meaningful Youth Engagement

Post written by Margaret Gaw, Stanback Fellow with FHI 360

The HCDExchange called community members to give input on a statement on youth involvement in Human Center Design (HCD) and Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health (ASRH) by participating in a Community Call on July 6. The purpose of the call was to co-create a statement on Meaningful Youth Engagement — for reproductive health researchers and developers, this forum is an engaging and informative way to center youth in the design process. The HCDExchanges references the Global Consensus on Meaningful Adolescent and Youth Engagement defining youth engagement as “an inclusive, intentional, mutually-respectful partnership between adolescents, youth, and adults whereby power is shared, respective contributions are valued, and young people’s ideas, perspectives, skills, and strengths are integrated into the design and delivery of programs, strategies, policies, funding mechanisms, and organizations that affect their lives and their communities, countries, and world.”

Based on these principles, the statement from the July 6 Community Call sought to provide a human-centered guide to stakeholders in adolescent sexual and reproductive health. As a way to connect with other participants in this field, the call also included breakout rooms to share perspectives from working in sexual and reproductive health. Centering youth is vital to developing contraceptives that are sustaining and effective for decades to come — the future of contraceptive innovation and design depends on the involvement of young participants in the field of sexual and reproductive health. Click here to become an official member of the HCDExchange Community of Practice.

Thank you to those who joined to co-create a statement on Meaningful Youth Engagement in HCD+ASRH. If you were not able to attend, you can re-watch the community call here:

On August 3, the Exchange will be validating the learnings from this conversation and finalizing the community statement on Meaningful Youth Engagement in HCD+ASRH. Check the HCDExchange website for more info.