Abstract
Introduction
Adolescents continue to face disparities in sexual health education, as traditional approaches often rely on top-down, expert-driven methods that do not reflect youth perspectives and lived experiences. The Teen Health 360 Program promotes adolescent sexual wellness through health education, community engagement, and capacity-building. The program conducted annual crowdsourcing open calls, a structured approach that engages communities in generating innovative solutions, to amplify youth and community voices. The 2026 Open Call, themed “My Body, My Call: How Can Teens Communicate and Set Healthy Boundaries?” invited youth and community members to share their perspectives on communication, consent, bodily autonomy, and relationship safety. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the 2026 Open Call as a youth-centered strategy for community engagement and adolescent sexual health promotion.
Methods
The open call theme was collaboratively developed by the Teen Advisory Committee and the Community Steering Committee to ensure that both youth and community perspectives shaped the focus of the contest. Following the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines on crowdsourcing, the open call was promoted through in-person and virtual outreach across schools, community organizations, and social media. Entries were accepted in various formats, including essays, poetry, visual art, music, and videos. Submissions were screened for quality, completeness, authenticity, and responsible use of AI tools before being independently evaluated by 26 judges with diverse backgrounds, using standardized criteria that assessed relevance, innovation, inclusivity, feasibility, and quality. Descriptive statistics were analyzed using Microsoft Excel, while qualitative inductive coding identified themes among top-ranked submissions.
Results
A total of 214 submissions were received, with 91 advancing to the judging round. Of these, 42 (46%) were submitted by youth and 49 (54%) by adults. Thirty entries received top scores (Mean ≥48, Score Range: 24 - 59) and were awarded prizes. Thematic analysis revealed three major themes: (1) judgment-free communication and emotionally safe spaces, (2) trusted adults and peer support, and (3) youth empowerment through consent education and self-advocacy.
Conclusion
Crowdsourcing open calls proved to be a feasible, youth-centered strategy for engaging communities on sensitive adolescent health topics and generating actionable insights to enhance sexual health education, outreach, and stigma-reduction efforts.