Community engagement has long been touted as a pillar of effective global health programming. Yet, in practice, it is too often reduced to a checkbox: a town hall meeting here, a pamphlet there, and a few photos for a donor report.
But the future of health systems, particularly in Africa, demands more than symbolic gestures. It requires a redefinition of community engagement as a deep, trust-based, data-informed partnership, where communities are not just participants but co-creators and leaders of their own health solutions.
The most powerful way to do this? Invest in local, youth-led, and data-driven models of engagement that foster ownership, innovation, and accountability.
Why Traditional Engagement Models are Failing Us
Traditional community engagement tends to be:
- Top-down: Programs are designed in capitals or donor offices, then pushed into communities.
- Tokenistic: Communities are “informed,” not consulted. If consulted, their feedback is often ignored.
- One-off: Engagement is an event, not a sustained relationship.
This approach creates mistrust, breeds resistance, and leads to programs that don’t reflect local realities. Worse still, it alienates the very people public health is meant to serve.
True engagement is not an output. It’s a mindset. And it starts by acknowledging that communities are the real experts in their context.
The Case for Youth-Led Engagement
Young people are often dismissed as too inexperienced to lead, yet they are uniquely positioned to connect, mobilize, and transform the communities they live in.
Here’s why youth-led models work:
- Trust: Young people are embedded in their communities. They are often seen as non-threatening and relatable, especially to their peers and elders alike.
- Energy and creativity: Youth bring fresh perspectives, digital skills, and bold ideas.
- Longevity: Engaging young leaders today builds leadership pipelines for tomorrow.
In my work across Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa, I’ve seen how youth-led health initiatives can drive incredible change, from increasing vaccine uptake to mobilizing communities for screening and early detection.
A 10-Step Approach: Youth-Led Community Health Needs Assessment
To operationalize this model, I wrote a book Youth-Led Community Health Needs Assessment: A 10-Step Approach, a practical tool designed to empower young people to conduct public health systems research, identify priority issues, and engage decision-makers with evidence.
The 10 Steps:
Step 1: Identify the Purpose and Scope of the Assessment
Clarify the core problem you are trying to understand. Define the geographic, demographic, or thematic focus of the assessment and determine who the findings are intended to influence (e.g., policymakers, service providers, community leaders).
Step 2: Set Up a Youth-Led Assessment Team
Recruit a diverse team of young people who are committed, community-rooted, and representative of the population being assessed. Ensure team members bring complementary skills and perspectives.
Step 3: Develop Assessment Tools
Design appropriate data collection instruments such as surveys, interview guides, or focus group questions, using participatory methods. Ensure tools are youth-friendly, culturally sensitive, and aligned with the purpose of the assessment.
Step 4: Ethical Consideration and Professional Standards
Seek ethical approvals from the health and ethics committee. Train the team on research ethics, informed consent, data protection, and respectful engagement. Establish clear protocols that prioritize participant dignity, confidentiality, and inclusion.
Step 5: Collect Data
Implement the data collection process using digital or paper-based tools. Strive for inclusivity by reaching diverse groups across age, gender, disability status, and geographic location.
Step 6: Analyze the Data
Work collaboratively to synthesize findings using both qualitative and quantitative analysis techniques. Support youth teams to identify emerging patterns, community priorities, and gaps in services.
Step 7: Identify Key Findings
Distill the most important insights that reflect the lived experiences, needs, and aspirations of the community. Use storytelling, visual aids, and local language to communicate findings clearly.
Step 8: Develop Interventions
Co-create practical, community-driven solutions with young people, local leaders, and stakeholders. Ensure that proposed interventions are evidence-informed, feasible, and sustainable.
Step 9: Implement Interventions
Pilot the recommended actions with support from community actors, NGOs, or public health institutions. Involve youth in leadership and coordination roles to maintain ownership and accountability.
Step 10: Evaluate Interventions
Monitor progress using measurable indicators. Document successes, challenges, and lessons learned. Share outcomes with community members and stakeholders to inform future scale-up or replication.
This approach is not about data for data’s sake, it’s about building agency and voice among the next generation of health leaders.
The Abuja Experience: Youth-Led Research for Smarter Cancer Care Planning
As part of the City Cancer Challenge (C/Can) initiative in Abuja , Nigeria, using the C/Can City Engagement Process Framework, I embedded youth-led engagement as a strategic driver for generating actionable evidence on cancer care.
In order to capture patients perspectives, I recruited and trained 20 young people as research assistants using the Youth-Led Community Health Needs Assessment: A 10-Step Approach. These youth-led teams conducted interviews with 542 cancer patients across communities and health institutions in Abuja, capturing vital insights into patients’ lived experiences, care pathways, and systemic gaps.
The process not only filled a major data gap, it elevated the voices of patients and frontline communities, allowing their realities to shape the city’s cancer care priorities. Young people were not just data collectors, they became advocates, storytellers, and bridge-builders between the health system and the people it serves.
“This wasn’t just about numbers. It was about visibility, voice, and co-creating solutions from the ground up.”
The findings directly informed C/Can’s stakeholder dialogues, helped refine service mapping, and strengthened advocacy for patient-centered reforms in Abuja’s cancer care ecosystem.
Data-Driven Engagement: Listening with Intent
Another missing link in traditional community engagement is evidence. Too often, decisions are made based on assumptions rather than community-validated data.
Youth-led models close this gap by gathering hyperlocal insights and triangulating them with national or program data. When young people collect, analyze, and present data, they not only illuminate invisible challenges, they also propose feasible solutions.
This builds confidence with decision-makers and drives more responsive and equitable interventions.
From Engagement to Co-Ownership
We must reimagine community engagement as a process of co-creation, not compliance. That means:
- Involving communities at every stage, from problem identification to evaluation
- Decentralizing powerto local leaders, especially youth
- Building structures for feedback and iteration
- Recognizing local knowledge as valid and powerful
This is not easy work. It takes time, humility, and a willingness to let go of control. But it is the only path to sustainable health systems and lasting social change.
A Call to Funders and Policymakers
If you want programs that work, fund youth. Don’t just give them seats at the table, give them a budget line, a role, and real accountability.
- Build youth engagement linesinto program design and grant requirements.
- Invest in capacity building, digital tools, and mentorshipfor youth-led CSOs.
- Create feedback loopsthat honor local voices and adapt programs accordingly.
The cost of doing this is minimal compared to the cost of failed programs due to poor community buy-in.
Final Thought: Engagement is the Strategy
In the future of global health, community engagement will not be a side activity, it will be the core strategy. The only way to build trust, deliver results, and close health equity gaps is to work with, not just for, the communities we serve.
And in that future, youth will be our fiercest allies, our boldest thinkers, and our strongest builders.
“Community engagement is not a box to tick. It’s a contract of trust, and youth are our best signatories.”
