To the day, it’s been 8 months since the Youth Advolution for Health (YAH) blog was officially launched. I don’t think I know most of the youths who contribute to the blog, since anyone who is interested in promoting health among youth is allowed to sign up and post something.
There were no restrictions on them. Everyone was simply asked to be respectful of others when writing for the blog. Youth can be trusted. We just have to give them more responsibility.
The blog has had a wider international reach than I expected. Without any prompting, we’ve had young people from other countries joining forces with us. Currently, our youth have no monetary incentives to sign up and blog, save for their interest in health advocacy, which is something that most youth wouldn’t think twice about.
I don’t believe in having too many contests and advertisements. They are a short-term solution. It’s more important to gather a group of contributors who are genuinely interested in the cause. It may take more time to build up, and it may never be something that mainstream youth will react to fervently as news about their favourite celebrities or MMORPG games. But we’ll do it anyway.
The beautiful thing is taking a back seat and watching the youths initiate and realise their own ideas. That is the spirit of youth advocacy. I hope to see more such projects take root in future.