Call for Applications: 2024 Africa CDC Youth Pre-Conference (YPC2024)

“Amplifying Youth Voices: Youth Shaping Health Policy, Practice and Research in Africa”

Background

The Africa CDC Youth Pre-Conference (YPC) is an Africa CDC youth initiative held annually at the margins of the International Conference on Public Health in Africa (CPHIA). It brings together young African public health professionals from all over the continent and the diaspora, with the aim of providing a platform to network with young leading health experts, exchange with their peers on existing and emerging health issues on the continent and present their contribution to a continental audience.

Previous editions of the YPC in 2022 and 2023, were held under the theme “Meaningful youth engagement for advancing sustainable health security in Africa” and ‘Youth Leadership for A Safer and Healthier Africa’, respectively. The most recent edition, YPC 2023, was attended by more than 250 youth delegates from 48 African Union Member States. It provided platforms for engagement with high-level officials and public health experts, small group workshops on selected thematic areas, as well as co-creation sessions for Africa CDC’s Strategy for Youth Engagement and Participation in Global Health and the Bingwa Initiative 2.0.

The Africa CDC is pleased to announce the 2024 Africa CDC Youth Pre-Conference (YPC 2024), to be held, in person from 23-24 November 2024 in Rabat, Morocco, under the theme “Amplifying Youth Voices: Youth Shaping Health Policy, Practice, and Research in Africa”. Its aim is to (1) showcase the remarkable contributions young Africans are already making in health policy, practice, and research; and (2) explore how to broaden engagement with and further empower these young leaders to transform the health sector across Africa.

The YPC 2024 will feature six tracks [1] where youth are already leading the charge:

1. Youth and Digital Health Innovations
2. Empowering Youth: Workforce/Talent Development for Job Opportunities
3. Youth for the Advancement of Local Pharmaceutical Manufacturing
4. Youth Championing Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS
5. Youth Health Advocates supporting CHWs activities and Programmes
6. Youth and One Health for a Healthier Future

Objectives and Expected Outcomes 

General Objective

As Africa CDC navigates the complex landscape of public health, investing in meaningful Youth engagement emerges as a cornerstone strategy for providing platforms, mentorship, and a voice in shaping policies.

The 2024 Youth Pre-Conference on public health aims at fostering and enhancing advocacy for youth meaningful engagement, active participation, and inclusive leadership in public health in Africa. It also seeks to educate and empower the youths to make informed decisions and contribute to strengthen the continent health security (UHC) and providing a space for young people to present their Contribution in health policy, practice, and research.

Specific Objectives

The aim for YPC 2024 is to:

• Assess current levels, scope, and typologies of youth engagement in policy, practice, and research,
• Provide insights on how to improve current levels and broaden engagement within the framework of the Africa CDC Strategy for Youth Engagement and Participation in Global Health,
• Highlight Africa’s youth contribution to public health policy, practice and research and discuss ways to improve their capacities in this regard, and
• Showcase youth innovation and contributions to shaping public health policy, practice, and research.
• Underscore the critical importance of increasing the enrollment of the youth in Community Health Workers Programs as a pathway for responding to disease outbreaks and reducing youth unemployment.
• Identify the aspects and components of Universal Health Coverage and health security in which young people can play a leading role to ensure effective implementation.

Expected Outcomes

1. Opportunities created for young professionals and researchers to present their work across the six tracks in Africa.  
2. Networking opportunities provided for African Youth in public health to engage with each other and leading professionals.  
3. The contribution of young African professionals to the public health evidence base in Africa showcased and documented.
4. Compelling justification of involving youth in community health programs and benefits to social-political capital established.
5. Additional opportunities of youth engagement for health are identified.

Dates, Venue, Proposed Framework

The 2024 Africa CDC Youth Pre-Conference will take place in-person from 23-24 November 2024 in Rabat, Morocco.

It will include:

• Plenary sessions and Keynotes by high-level individuals.
• Parallel sessions and workshops in a range of formats to encourage broad participation.
• Oral and poster presentations of youth-led or youth-focused research and projects.
• Networking opportunities.

Eligibility and Participant Selection

Applicants must meet all the below criteria to be eligible to apply:

• Age: 18 to 35 years
• Citizenship: Applicants must be a citizen of an AU member State
• Experience and expertise: have an educational background (at least enrolled as undergraduate) and first professional experiences in health and health-adjacent disciplines. Extensive work experience in public health may be used as a supplement by applicants holding degrees unrelated to health sciences or public health.
• Leadership and commitment: participants must demonstrate leadership potential and strong commitment to public health engagement through involvement in youth-led health initiatives, advocacy, or community organising.

Equity statement: We recognise the importance of ensuring youth with various marginalised and underserved identities and backgrounds benefit equally from our initiatives. Therefore, gender, geographical balance (representation of all AU Member States), ethnic and social diversity, disability status, etc. will be considered in the final selection of participants.

How to Apply?

• Please fill out the application form online: https://tinyurl.com/YPC2024-Call-For-Applications  by 31 August 2024, 05pm EAT.
• Submit your CV and a 300-word abstract or article relating to the track of your choice.

Guidelines for submission can be found below:

Article/Abstract Submission Guidelines:

1. The abstract/article must be clearly aligned with the track of choice (one among the 6 tracks) and must be related to youth in Africa.
2. The abstract/article should only be submitted once and only under one of the six tracks.  Submission of the same abstract under multiple tracks will likely result in the rejection of your application.
3. The abstract/article must not exceed 300 words.
4. Participants can choose one of following submission options for their application:

• Option 1: Policy or implementation project abstract on the theory of change behind or lessons learnt through policy or program development, planning, and/or implementation.

Submissions under this option must contain:

1. title and list of authors,
2. background,
3. description of the project/policy,
4. theory of change behind policy/program or lessons learnt during implementation (including best practices), and
5. conclusion demonstrating the significance for the track of choice.

• Option 2: Article or commentary with a title and clear thesis on an issue connecting African youth to the selected track. The article/commentary must demonstrate a nuanced and expert understanding of the topic/track chosen.

• Option 3: Research abstract to report research findings.

Submissions under this option must contain:

1. title and list of authors,
2. background,
3. research methods,
4. results (disaggregated by age/gender if possible), and
5. conclusions demonstrating the significance of the findings to the track chosen.

Important dates

• The application for participation shall be opened by 12^th August 2024.
• The deadline for application is 31 August 2024, 05:00 pm East Africa Time.
• The selected applicants will be contacted before the end of September 2024.
• Confirmation of attendance deadline: 20 October 2024.
• Conference dates: 23^rd – 24^th November 2024.

Please download the document attached below for more details.

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[1] See Annex for a synopsis of the tracks