Alliance for Health Promotion “Health Promotion is the process of enabling people to increase control over and to improve their health” Ottawa Charter 1986 The Alliance for Health Promotion celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2022. What started in 1997 at the 4th International Conference on Health Promotion in Jakarta as an ad-hoc Advisory Group for Health Promotion, is now the Alliance for Health Promotion, an International Non-governmental Organisation (NGO) based in Geneva Switzerland. It enjoys the highest international recognition, namely official relations with the World Health Organization (WHO) and Consultative Status with the United Nations’ Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). As a key player among the Global Health Actors in Geneva, the Alliance is well positioned to contribute effectively to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The Vision of the Alliance relies on the aspiration to see empowered individuals and communities equipped with ownership of knowledge and the means to better control their health and fully enjoy a healthy life. The Mission of the Alliance has always been to support the individual and the community to take greater control of their health by using a health promotion approach that encompasses a holistic view of health. Through connecting and catalyzing Civil Society the Alliance has been serving as a bridge between global policy and local impact.
SDG ZINE
In order to fulfil the above mission, the Alliance employs the following tools: Knowledge sharing, Advocacy, Awareness training, Partnership, Networking and Capacity building. The membership of the Alliance is multisectoral, including NGOs, academia, other CSO as well as individuals from all over the world. Currently the Alliance has 50 regular members and over 1.000 people signed up to its network. Four annually held core events form the major activities of the Alliance, namely: • The NGO Consultation at the WHO Executive Board session in January • Briefings and official side events at the World Health Assembly in May • Regional Workshops, projects in Bangalore, India and Kitale, Kenya (see p. 44) • The Global Forum on Health Promotion This year’s Global Forum (12GFHP) was hosted in the WHO as a hybrid event on 16 November 2022 bringing together 200 participants online and in person. The theme was: Changing the Paradigm – Civil Society Driving SDG Solutions for Health Promotion and Well-being.
The objective of the Forum was: • To familiarize with the latest policy decisions in Global Health with particular reference to the Geneva Charter for Well-being https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/the-geneva-charter-forwell-being • To explore together what needs to be done differently and how actions should be taken by different stakeholders in order to make the Geneva Charter tangible • To present the Concept of a Digital Community of Practice for Health Promotion and Well-being (see p. 45) An innovative feature has been incorporated in the programme of the Global Forum, namely an exciting ideation game ran by AddictLab which is part of the SDG Ecosystem where the Alliance also belongs to since July 2022. See p. 46. The School Project – Highlight of Year 2021 The pandemic has disrupted our everyday lives and radically altered the political landscape. Youths have been particularly affected in their daily lives and their mental health by the restrictions brought by the situation. Realizing this challenge the Alliance, in collaboration with its members and subsidized by the State of Geneva, has developed a project with the aim of raising awareness about health promotion as a sustainable and
42
