Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comment
. 2023:12:7890.
doi: 10.34172/ijhpm.2023.7890. Epub 2023 May 21.

For Sake of Youth and for Sake of Policies and Programmes. Why Youth Participation is a Right, a Requirement and a Value Comment on "Between Rhetoric and Reality: Learnings From Youth Participation in the Adolescent and Youth Health Policy in South Africa"

Affiliations
Comment

For Sake of Youth and for Sake of Policies and Programmes. Why Youth Participation is a Right, a Requirement and a Value Comment on "Between Rhetoric and Reality: Learnings From Youth Participation in the Adolescent and Youth Health Policy in South Africa"

Gabriele Prati et al. Int J Health Policy Manag. 2023.

Abstract

This commentary discusses an article by Jacobs and George which investigated how youth participation can be an important component of health policy-making by conducting a case study based on qualitative interviews. We appreciate the methodology and the main findings of the study, which contribute to advancing our understanding of the challenges and opportunities of youth participation in health policy-making. We note that this article raises several questions and issues that we must address to advance research and practice: (i) is there is a substantial gap between rhetoric and reality in terms of youth participation? (ii) do youth policies have a direct impact on youth participation? (iii) can we define and operationalise meaningful engagement? (iv) who is included and who is excluded in youth participation projects? and (v) is youth participation a right, a requirement and a value?

Keywords: Actors; Empowerment; Health Policy; Policy-Making Process; Youth; Youth Participation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Comment on

References

    1. Jacobs T, George A. Between rhetoric and reality: learnings from youth participation in the adolescent and youth health policy in South Africa. Int J Health Policy Manag. 2022;11(12):2927–2939. doi: 10.34172/ijhpm.2022.6387. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bessant J. Youth participation: a new mode of government. Policy Stud. 2003;24(2-3):87–100. doi: 10.1080/0144287032000170984. - DOI
    1. Loncle P, Cuconato M, Muniglia V, Walther A. Youth Participation in Europe: Beyond Discourses, Practices and Realities. 1st ed. Bristol University Press; 2012. 10.2307/j.ctt9qgr4k. - DOI
    1. Sprague Martinez L, Richards-Schuster K, Teixeira S, Augsberger A. The power of prevention and youth voice: a strategy for social work to ensure youths’ healthy development. Soc Work. 2018;63(2):135–143. doi: 10.1093/sw/swx059. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Walther A, Lüküslü DG, Loncle P, Pais A. Regimes of youth participation? Comparative analysis of youth policies and participation across European cities. Young. 2021;29(2):191–209. doi: 10.1177/1103308820937550. - DOI

LinkOut - more resources