Health Promoting Universities Network in Türkiye: What we’ve learned from youth-adult partnerships

Abstract Background Youth participation is involvement of youth in planning, implementation, and evaluation of policies, research and practice. It is critical to involve youth in health promotion efforts, where they can identify innovative methods and tailor health interventions to meet the diverse needs of young people. Objectives This paper aims to share an interdisciplinary experience of establishing Health Promoting Universities Network in Türkiye, where young people have been at the center of this multicenter initiative with student-faculty member partnerships in 10 higher education institutions. Results Our interdisciplinary experience working with students and faculty members from different universities showed that empowering youth and supporting their engagement in research, advocacy and practice, is key to increase the success rate of healthy campus initiatives. Involving young people in decision-making processes help the initiatives to better respond to the needs of young people, to be more youth-friendly, and age appropriate. Active engagement of youth by encouraging them to use their knowledge and skills and building new ones, not only empowers them, but also increases mutual trust and feelings of being valued. Besides youth-adult partnerships, youth-to-youth approaches are also effective in increasing awareness of young people on health-promoting behaviors and campuses as well as their access to services. Participatory approaches lead to better problem-solving skills, more positive social aims, and increased resilience among students. Sports, science, music, photography, arts, films, and social media are important tools to facilitate these initiatives and contribute to healthier universities in more entertaining ways. Conclusions Health promoting university initiatives should consider investing more time and resources for youth-adult partnerships, especially via fun, interactive, and innovative tools that are recommended by and/or widely accepted by young people. Key messages • Trusting youth’s capacity and giving them responsibility in health promotion initiatives can have tremendous and long-lasting effects in higher education. • Only through meaningful participation can young people identify their own motivations and barriers, and be motivated for positive change in their health-related behaviors and environments.