Young people, championing change

The U-Report Communities of Action model illustrates how youth-led social and behaviour change efforts can strengthen community engagement and increase participation in public health programs. U-Report, a UNICEF digital platform, equips young people with information and a voice on issues that affect them, enabling action within their communities. Building on this platform, Solutions for People (S4P Group) and UNICEF Uganda trained and supported youth to lead community   mobilization activities that encouraged families to access essential health services.
Thirty-three U-Reporters were trained in SBCC, facilitation, and digital engagement. Twenty were deployed to ten districts, where they trained 25 youth per district, and each trainee recruited two more peers, creating a network of more than 750 youth mobilizers (285 young women), working alongside district  health teams.
A  coupon system reinforced follow-through and enabled tracking. Parents who agreed to vaccinate received a paper coupon. After vaccination, the coupon was returned at the health facility and recorded. Coupon returns provided a proxy for completed vaccination and helped health workers follow up on missed cases.
Youth reached parents and caregivers through household visits, school sessions, markets, and radio, using locally translated IEC materials. Across ten districts, the campaign reached 73,559 people and dir.ectly engaged 19,274 students, including 7800 girls. The average coupon return rate was 78 percent. District data from Tororo, Busia, Kamuli, and Jinja showed higher vaccination uptake in intervention subcounties. The experience demonstrates that trained and mentored youth can bridge trust gaps in routine services and , counter misinformation

Adolescents in Kenya face significant barriers to realising their sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). There are high rates of teenage pregnancy and unmet need for contraception. Persistent stigma, misinformation, and weak parental and community support limit young people's ability to make informed choices. MSI Reproductive Choices Kenya (MSK), in partnership with youth champions, piloted a multi-component intervention in four counties (Kisumu, Siaya, Bungoma, Kakamega) between November 2023 and June 2024 to strengthen adolescent SRH knowledge, shift harmful norms, and promote parental engagement.
The pilot intervention – G-Chanue - combined youth-led communications, intergenerational dialogues, and youth-responsive health services. An operational evaluation of the pilot employed a mixed-methods design: a cross-sectional survey (n=539), 16 focus group discussions, 16 parent interviews, 15 key informant interviews, and facility data analysis.
Findings showed notable gains in SRH knowledge among those reached by activities, as well as increased in seeking services. This was further reflected in increased numbers of youth accessing SRH services in the pilot locations. While modest shifts in parental attitudes and community support were observed conversations between parents and adolescents remained limited.
The pilot highlights the potential of youth champions as effective agents to improve both peer knowledge and access to services, while advocating for more sustained parental and community engagement. SBCC strategies that centre youth voices, while building supportive ecosystems of parents and community influencers, are essential to transform entrenched gender and social norms and expand adolescents' access to sexual and reproductive health and rights information and care.

Youths in the tribal and socio-economically challenged district of Baksa in Assam, India, led a series of health and wellness activities rooted in social and behavior change communication (SBCC) principles. Initiatives were co-developed by students, teachers, and School Management and Development Committees (SMDCs), with support from local governance structures and guidance from public health system. SBCC principles ensured that interventions were culturally relevant, linguistically appropriate, built upon existing community knowledge systems, while leveraging culturally rooted communication and school-based platforms. 
The model engaged youths to co-create SBC strategies and collectively work with health institutions and local governance units to augment community awareness and engagement, generating demand for health services. Multi-sectoral convergence facilitated stakeholder collaboration across schools, health systems, governance, community, and peer-levels through health assemblies, youth participation in governance meetings, and youth-led messaging initiatives. Grassroots governance structures supported youth-engagement, mobilizing resources through organizing parent-teacher meetings and encouraging community participation. 
Self-reported outcomes include participants' perceived improvements in substance use reduction, menstrual health, hygiene, nutrition intake, uptake of adolescent health services, ownership of health behaviors and engagement of institutions in democratized community action. 
The model complements the Prime Minister's People's Health Scheme and Universal Health Coverage priorities; demonstrating how youth-led SBCC initiatives in marginalized tribal settings can offer blueprint for integrating youth agency, school and health systems, governance and community structures into health equity efforts. This experience underscores the power of youth and empowered localized communication in influencing social and health transformation.