UHC Day 2025: Growing a movement for lasting change

Welcome back to this year’s UHC Day Substack series! Over the past eight weeks, you have been learning how to build connections, develop capacity and use your voice effectively to influence policy and advance social participation. Now, with just one week to go to UHC Day, it’s time to bring it all together to create a sustainable, inclusive movement that will drive lasting change.

How to grow a movement for lasting change

When it comes to meaningful change, meetings, events and campaigns are just the starting point. It takes connections, collaboration and careful planning to turn your advocacy into a movement. Here are a few solid actions to transform your advocacy from a moment to a movement.

1. Nurture your connections.

Achieving UHC is not a solo mission. The strongest movements around the world are built on collaboration and relationships, and the push for UHC is no different. Earlier in the series, we talked about bringing people to the table. Nurturing connections along the way is equally important. When advocates and groups support each other, share information and skills, and are united in their goals, they amplify their impact.

Start by connecting to others who are already working in similar or related fields and towards similar goals. Search for local in-person or online groups who are health focused, and encourage them to integrate their agendas under the UHC umbrella. Be systematic about how you keep in touch with other advocates after you meet at community events, rallies or consultations. Then map your network! Work out where everyone fits in the puzzle and who you can call on at different moments to advocate more effectively.

2. Build sustainable resources.

How do you fuel a movement? Passion can go a long way when it comes to advocacy, but to build a movement that is sustainable and has long-term impact, you need resources. Sometimes this means money, but physical resources and people power are equally important. Ask yourself a few simple questions:

• What is already available to you? Skills, volunteers, meeting spaces?

• What costs do you need to cover? Printing, transport, software?

• Where can you turn for help? Does your local council offer support? Are there community funds, small grants, or health programs you can tap into?

When you know where your resources are coming from, it is easier to plan your advocacy, manage volunteers and draw more people to your cause.

3. Be flexible and adapt to change.

In the same way that health systems change as leaders come and go, budgets change and priorities shift – advocacy and social participation will evolve too. A strong movement is one that learns, adapts, grows and keeps the door open for new voices.

So, how do you keep your movement strong and flexible? Commit to continuous learning and stay in touch with community needs and updated on new health-related plans, policies or laws. Review your goals regularly, keeping in mind what worked well and where you could change course. And finally, seek out new voices and connect with other advocates to keep your movement fresh and inclusive.

That said, while it helps to shift your goals to suit the context, having an overarching objective or a north star will keep you focused and increase the impact of your advocacy. Write down the change you want to see and use this to guide your work.

4. Celebrate your wins!

Lasting change takes time, but the small successes along the way really matter and can inspire people to keep the movement strong. Whether it’s a successful meeting with a policy-maker, a truly inclusive community consultation, or a new law or policy bringing your country closer to achieving UHC, celebration isn’t self-praise — it’s how movements build hope and attract new allies. So, be bold and share those wins with your community and beyond!

Social participation at play

Pictures are for illustrative purposes only. Image by Sightsavers.

In Côte d’Ivoire, the implementation of the Disability Inclusion Guide for Action is transforming how social participation and disability inclusion are approached in health systems. Through consultations and active engagement in workshops organized by the Ministry of Health, persons with disabilities and their representative organizations have shared their lived experiences of navigating health systems, and priorities to remove barriers. Their involvement has been central to shaping health system reforms and advancing the movement towards inclusive social participation, ensuring that all voices—especially those most often left behind—are meaningfully engaged in health governance.

As Adama Koné from the Coordination of Associations of Persons with Disabilities in Côte d’Ivoire said:

“We used to have a healthcare system in which persons with disabilities had to adapt to the existing system. But today we’ve gone further trying to adapt the system to disability. It’s normal for the people affected to participate in this process which is being carried out for them.”

By adopting the Guide for Action in collaboration with persons with disabilities and their representative organizations, Côte d’Ivoire is taking concrete steps towards its commitment under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities and building a sustainable movement for UHC that truly leaves no one behind.

Click here to learn more.

What you can do

Based on the four actions above, here are some simple, tangible steps you can take to start growing your movement for lasting change:

1. Start a simple contact list or address book with all your fellow advocates and allies. Keep a note of their key skills, knowledge, contacts and availability/willingness to get involved. When it is all written down it will become clear how much power there is in your combined strengths and resources.

2. Make a basic budget plan to support your goals. This can be as simple as a spreadsheet that tracks your needs and the resources available to you. When you can see your capacity and where the gaps are, it will be easier to work towards more sustainable advocacy.

3. Schedule regular dates throughout the year to review your goals. Check them against your overall objective and see if they still match the political and community context you are operating in. If they are no longer working for you, don’t be afraid to change course.

And don’t forget to join us on 12 December for the annual UHC Day Town Hall, an open dialogue between youth and parliamentarians about how to accelerate progress toward making health affordable for all!

When it comes to social participation, the goal isn’t just better meetings or smarter advocacy. The goal is a health system where participation becomes normal — where communities, governments and health workers solve problems together. Every story you’ve told, every conversation you’ve started, every connection you’ve built, is part of a growing movement towards UHC and more equitable and responsive health systems.

Tool spotlight

Let’s show the reach of the UHC movement! If you’re planning an event, publication or announcement related to UHC Day, log it in the Global Heatmap. This will also help advocates near you get involved.