Instagram
Twitter
YouTubeNew framework launched on global priorities for adolescents
International partners, donors and UN agencies are joining together to set out the framework for SDG action and delivery for adolescents worldwide.
The FIA Foundation and Child Health Initiative have joined leading members of the ‘H6+’ group of UN agencies and donors to set out the framework for action in the influential Journal of Adolescent Health.
The paper, published in the October 2020 journal edition, presents an important step towards a Global Adolescent Summit.
As the paper outlines, ensuring the health and well-being of adolescents, young people in the 10-19 age group, is critical for achieving the SDGs. Additionally, it is recognised that this age-group is also vital for achieving the UN Secretary General’s 2030 Global Strategy for Women’s Children’s and Adolescents’ Health and its ‘Every Women Every Child’ campaign. The need to deliver for adolescents has only been heightened by Covid-19 with the well-being of millions of young people around the world undermined by the pandemic and its ongoing social and economic effects, the paper acknowledges.
The FIA Foundation and Child Health Initiative have been joining global partners in calling for action for adolescents and first proposed a Global Summit at the World Health Assembly in 2018.
The article refers to the global ‘Call to Action’ for adolescents, an ongoing advocacy campaign leading to a Global Summit, which the FIA Foundation has been supporting. The paper broadly sets out the key areas of the ‘well-being framework’ which will be central to a Summit and a strategy for delivery on the adolescent agenda. It emphasises that maintaining and improving well-being is a ‘fundamental duty of all governments’ supported by their partners. The framework provides a clear definition of adolescent well-being and measurable indicators for delivery.
Development of the framework is being led by the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH) and the WHO. Also involved are the H6+ group which includes UNICEF, UNFPA, UN Women, UNAIDS and the World Bank. Fondation Botnar is the major supporter of the framework’s development as a whole and FIA Foundation is also collaborating on this work.
There are five ‘domains’ in the adolescent well-being framework providing a basis for action on the following areas: good health, nutrition; social development and connectedness; education and employability; resilience, fulfilling potential; and safe, supportive environments. The FIA Foundation, Child Health Initiative and partners are well positioned to contribute to the safe environments aspects of the agenda in particular.
The lead author on the paper is WHO adolescent research specialist Dr. David Ross. For the FIA Foundation, Deputy Director Avi Silverman joined all the key global partners as a co-author. He said:
“The development of the adolescent well-being framework is a major step forward for the advocacy agenda that we have been supporting. There is growing recognition that we need to deliver for the 10-19 age-group not only for adolescents themselves but also because they are critical for the SDGs as a whole. The framework will help governments and donors strengthen and improve their programming for adolescents. We look forward to contributing to its development with the wealth of expertise from all our partners in the Child Health Initiative.”
The paper, ‘Adolescent Well-Being: A Definition and Conceptual Framework’ is available at: https://www.jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X(20)30396-7/fulltext
The Child Health Initiative advocacy for safe environments and the Global Adolescent Summit is set out in our Manifesto 2030 at www.mystreet.org
For the Call to Action visit www.adolescents2030.org
