ABOUT THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE OKANAGAN CHARTER
This international Charter was an outcome of the 2015 International Conference on Health Promoting Universities and Colleges held on the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus in Kelowna, Canada on June 22-25. The Charter development process engaged researchers, practitioners, administrators, students and policy makers from 45 countries. The first draft of the Charter was based on input from 225 people through a pre-conference survey and expert interviews as well as a review of existing Charters and Declarations.
At the Conference, with the support of a writing team, 380 delegates critiqued and refined the Charter in a design lab and development sessions. Delegates were invited to bring forward into the Charter development, ideas from the multiple plenaries and concurrent sessions that comprised the scientific program. On the final Conference day, higher education leaders and delegates, including network and organization representatives, signed a Pledge to bring the Charter back to their settings to inspire and catalyze further action towards the creation of health promoting universities and colleges. Representatives from the World Health Organization, Pan American Health Organization and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization joined in the Pledge.
Through dissemination and use of the Charter in higher education, network building and future conferences, our hope is that health promotion will be advanced internationally.