CALL FOR APPLICATIONS – Regional Youth Champions
Background
The Digital Transformation of Health Lab (DTH-Lab) is a global consortium of partners working to drive the implementation of the Lancet and Financial Times Commission on Governing Health Futures 2030’s recommendations for value-based and youth-centered digital transformations of health at global and national levels.
In 2021, the GHFutures2030 Commission produced a ground-breaking report on the digital transformations of health, providing a strong evidence base and set of recommendations for the DTH-Lab to take forward. All areas of the DTH-Lab’s work are a direct result of three years of research, convening, and partnership building.
DTH-Lab envisions that by 2030, digital transformations of health are led by Health for All values and enable digital-first health systems to deliver equitable benefits for the health, wellbeing, and safety of young people and their communities.
The Lab brings youth together with policymakers, technology companies, and other stakeholders to drive change in three areas: (1) putting young people at the center of digital-first health systems; (2) advancing value-based governance of digital transformations in health; and (3) addressing digital determinants of health (DDoH). It achieves its goals through a multidisciplinary approach that combines cutting-edge research, strengthening youth leadership, driving innovations in policy and practice, and shifting public and political agendas.
Youth will be key partners in all aspects of the DTH-Lab’s work and will have a seat in the Lab’s governance structure. Meaningful youth engagement and supporting them to become informed and enfranchised digital health citizens will be prioritized at every stage of the Lab’s pathway to impact. The Lab will take concerted steps to capture and reflect the diverse views and experiences of young people in its activities and outputs and to champion their inclusion in external governance processes.
Regional Youth Champions
As part of the work of the Commission, the first cohort of Regional Youth Champions (RYC) was established to champion the report’s key recommendations to improve the health and well-being of young people at regional and national levels. RYC represents eight different regions based on the groupings used by the Sustainable Development Goals, including Sub-Saharan Africa, Northern Africa and Western Asia, Central and Southern Asia, Eastern and South-Eastern Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Australia and New Zealand, Oceania, Europe, and Northern America.
The next cohort of RYC will:
- Join a well-established network of young leaders dedicated to amplifying the report recommendations and key messages.
- Provide insights, key concerns, and proposed solutions to improve the health and well-being of young people at the regional and local levels.
- Support in the co-design and co-creation of youth-focused research, policy, and solutions.
- Join the leadership and governance mechanism of the DTH-Lab.
- Advocate for the inclusion of youth voices in external governance processes.
RYC will play a role in supporting the DTH-Lab’s workstream objectives:
- Create and promote the adoption of a blueprint for digital-first health systems that are co-designed and governed by young people, are responsive to their health needs, and strengthen digital health citizenship.
- Support the implementation of a framework for governing health futures that provides governments, technology companies, and other stakeholders with guidance on how to build a trusted and inclusive governance architecture based on data solidarity and Health for All values.
- Share research and create a sustainable platform to engage governments, technology companies, youth organizations, and other key actors to take coordinated actions to address the digital determinants of health.
Champion’s Profile
- Age: Between 18 and 30 years old at the time of applying.
- Location: Based in the region you are applying to represent during the full term.
- Communication Skills: Great oral and written communication skills in English. Working knowledge and/or the ability to translate to other UN languages is an added advantage.
- Bank Account: Access to a bank account.
Interests
- Passionate about global health governance, the future of health, digital transformations of health, data solidarity, and/or UHC.
- Shared foundational values for digital health governance such as democracy, solidarity, inclusion, equity, and human rights.
Experience
- Pursuing a professional career in health, STEM, international affairs, and/or governance.
- Experience or training in communications, advocacy, policy writing, and/or research.
- Leadership experience in fostering change and/or innovation.
- Training or experience in futures thinking or foresight is an added advantage.
Networks
- Part of a youth network and/or experience with youth networks at the regional and/or local level.
- Uses social media for knowledge sharing and well connected to other young people.
- Excellent working knowledge of digital platforms and the use of technology to increase digital engagement.
Champion’s Role
The Champions role includes but is not limited to:
- Supporting the development of events, articles, and other outputs led by DTH-Lab.
- Providing insights and expertise on the three workstreams of the DTH-Lab.
- Collaborating with other RYC to provide written/oral contributions.
- Supporting partnership building with key stakeholders and other youth networks.
- Sharing strategic and innovative ideas that support the overall vision and mission of the DTH-Lab.
- Serving as messengers and disseminators of the DTH-Lab’s work at the regional level.
- Ensuring that key outputs are distributed across social media platforms ranging from Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, etc.
- Involvement in partnerships to learn about scholarly communications in the digital health space, with an emphasis on understanding and contributing to the peer review process.
- Improving the diversity and inclusivity of young people in the #MyHealthFutures Youth Network.
- Joining panel discussions, podcasts, and other forms of knowledge sharing platforms as youth champions.
Stipend
To support the work of the Regional Youth Champion, the DTH-Lab will provide a monthly stipend of 200 USD from 1 October 2024 to 30 September 2025. RYC should plan to spend roughly 7 hours a month dedicated to this role. A proposed breakdown of time includes:
- Internal convenings – Monthly RYC meetings, working group meetings (2 hours)
- External convenings/partnership development (2 hours)
- Project work (2 hours)
- Networking, promotion, and dissemination of findings (1 hour)
Note: The cohort term is one year with a two-month probationary period. An evaluation will be made after the first two months to ensure meaningful engagement and contributions to the work. The DTH-Lab reserves the right to renounce this role from any person who does not uphold the same ethos as the DTH-Lab.
