Submission ID 118515
| Issue/Objective | Youth are often invited into global health spaces-but rarely empowered within them. This session challenges us to move beyond symbolic inclusion toward genuine influence, asking: What does meaningful youth participation in global health governance look like? And what structural, cultural, and institutional shifts are needed to make it possible? |
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| Methodology/Approach | Through intergenerational dialogue and reflections from youth leaders, institutional actors, and policymakers, this presentation will explore what meaningful youth participation in digital health governance entails. This study is based on reflections from youth participants and the research team, using field diaries, semi-structured interviews and collective reflections. These methods enabled us to capture personal impressions, questions, emotions, and tensions that emerged throughout the process. Instead of positioning the research team as neutral observers, we recognize our role as co-participants of this process. This reflexive approach allows a more situated understanding of participation not only as a concept, but also as a live experience influenced but relationships and contexts. |
| Results | Our findings show that participation is not a one-time but an ongoing process. It involves preparation before the event, engagement, negotiation during the event, and knowledge sharing with community organizations afterward. This process is shaped by how youth navigate institutional expectations, power imbalances, and the challenges of representing diverse communities. |
| Discussion/Conclusion | We found that meaningful participation operates at multiple levels. At the personal level, it involves emotions, confidence, and the ability to perform and socialize in public. At the organizational level, it depends on the preparation, guidance, and access to knowledge that youth receive. At the structural level, it is influenced by broader inequalities, such as class, geography, language, and the degree to which youth perspectives are truly recognized. |
| Presenters and affiliations | Catalina Gonzalez-Uribe Universidad de los Andes Cindy Zapata Universidad de los Andes Desirée Santiago Universidad de los Andes Javier Guerrero-C Universidad de los Andes Yoko Ruiz Universidad de los Andes Sebastian Leon-Giraldo Universidad de los Andes Juli Salamanca Universidad de los Andes Bicky Bohorquez Universidad de los Andes Camilo Restrepo Universidad de los Andes Camila Moreno-Gil Universidad de los Andes Fernande Alvarez Universidad de los Andes |
