UHC Day 2025: Knowing when and where to engage
Welcome back to this year’s UHC Day series on social participation! By now you should be feeling a bit more confident in your role as an advocate and your understanding of your country’s health systems and its key players. The next step is being able to identify the right moments to engage and the right spaces to occupy. So, when and where does social participation happen?
Finding space to raise your voice
In most countries, there are a range of established spaces for social participation, which are either facilitated by the government or established by community groups or civil society organizations. Some examples include:
Public consultations: Governments often ask for public feedback on new policies or laws before they are adopted. This can be a chance for you or your community group to shape your country’s health system at the highest level of influence.
Community/patient advisory groups: To ensure they are taking real experiences into account in their decisions, governments will often have a range of advisory groups to help guide their policy and budget decisions. Being part of these groups or contributing information and experiences to those already involved can help ensure leaders are keeping their promises.
Public budget hearings or reviews: Making public submissions during budget reviews or hearings can be a powerful way to ensure money allocated for health in your country reaches those most in need.
Community health meetings: This is your chance for grassroots action. Raising concerns and suggesting actions at these meetings can help feed real-life experiences up to local and national leaders.
Civil society or youth networks: Consider joining a local network to amplify your advocacy. When people advocate together there is more chance of their voices being heard.
Carving out your own spaces
In theory, social participation spaces for universal health coverage (UHC) should already exist. But sometimes they are hard to find or not very accessible for the people concerned. In some contexts they may not exist at all. This is where your role becomes even more important.
You and your community have the power to create your own spaces and opportunities for social participation. From small grassroots activities like starting your own social media pages or Whatsapp groups, to facilitating community dialogue through town halls or neighbourhood surveys, the possibilities are endless. When communities lead and show they are motivated for change, governments often follow suit. It’s the best way for them to ensure they are keeping their finger on the pulse and meeting the needs of the people they serve.
Knowing the right time to engage
When it comes to social participation for UHC, timing matters! After all, you can’t influence a decision if it has already been made. There are some key government cycles which you should familiarize yourself with to make your advocacy more effective:
Elections: Advocacy can break through more easily during election campaigns. This is when leaders are out in communities, listening to the concerns of voters and making commitments for the years to come. Click here to learn more about how to advocate for UHC election cycles.
Budgets: Advocating in the lead up to a new budget cycle gives you the opportunity to influence the way funding is allocated to health, to ensure enough is allocated and that it is allocated fairly. Click here to learn more about how to influence budget choices through advocacy and accountability.
Reforms: Governments often open decisions up for public consultation when a new policy or law is being considered or an existing one is being reviewed. Showing strong support for or against a policy can shape the future of your country’s health system. Click here for a set of action-oriented policy recommendations that country leaders should implement to advance UHC.
Social participation at play
Thailand’s National Health Assembly (NHA) is a strong example of institutionalizing social participation in health governance. Established through the National Health Act of 2007, it takes a structured approach to policy deliberation that is characterized by:
Legal foundation: The NHA provides a formal mandate for public participation, creating legitimacy and sustainability for the process of social participation.
Inclusive representation: The assembly includes over 280 constituency groups (and growing), creating a space for diverse perspectives to be represented in health policy discussions.
Government-community interaction: Founded on the concept of the “triangle that moves the mountain”, the NHA brings together three key groups - government officials, civil society and academic institutions - for iterative discussions on health policies.
Capacity building: The NHA has become a recognized and appreciated national public good, enabling evidence-based policy discussions and building civil society capacity to engage in policy-making processes.
Accountability and transparency: The NHA demonstrates transparency mechanisms through its open documentation practices. All background papers and draft resolutions are published online and widely disseminated, ensuring public accountability. The system is further strengthened by mandatory public hearing forums that provide spaces for open feedback and refinement of policy proposals.
As with all structures, there is always room for improvement. For instance, the NHA has faced some challenges in translating resolutions into policy implementation. Nevertheless, the assembly has evolved into a recognized entity that has demonstrated the need for multi-stakeholder ownership and collaboration for health solutions.
What you can do
Make a participation calendar! Start with a list of all of the participation spaces for UHC which already exist in your country. Make sure you include the more informal spaces which may not be recognized officially, but which drive conversations around health.
Map out all the key dates from the government cycles you researched, from elections to budget consultations and policy reviews. Plot all of this into a yearly calendar, then highlight the moments when you feel your voice might be most powerful or your group’s messages are most likely to make an impact. This calendar can act as a simple roadmap to help you navigate your social participation.
Take it a step further. Share your calendar with other advocates and networks to align your efforts and engagement.
Tool spotlight
Join the 2025 UHC Day youth challenge! As part of the 2025 UHC Day campaign, we’re challenging youth to get involved and drive change in their country. Young people who participate in the challenge get a chance to win a UHC Day prize and be featured as a UHC champion.