The young Ambassador

Who is the Young Ambassador

The young ambassador is a student of any age, who serves as the school’s focal point of anti-bullying, helps raise awareness about bullying, and to whom other students can turn for help or provide support for those experiencing incidents of physical and online bullying.

Twenty young ambassadors will be selected from each country. At least four of the selected ambassadors will be young people with a disability. 

How to select the Young Ambassador

Young ambassadors can be chosen based on a voluntary basis, for example by one young person per class volunteering to act as an ambassador. The young ambassadors can be between 11 and 19 years old, and can be a young person with a disability. It is important that students are chosen who have the time to commit to the ambassador position, and it does not impact other commitments (such as exam preparation or other roles).

The training for Young Ambassadors 

Teachers and selected young ambassadors will receive training and support via the online platform. The platform does not require registration to view the contents and is always accessible.

The training consists of separate lessons for teachers and students on the subject of bullying and with a focus on disabilities.

What the Young Ambassador must do after training

1. Participate in creating an anti-bullying campaign   

Three teams of young ambassadors per country will be created. Once they have completed the training, each young ambassador will share the contents of what they have learned with at least 10 peers through peer education. Each ambassador team can choose how they will do this, and can choose, for example, to organize information sessions/classes for their peers, or develop interactive activities.

With the support of teachers, anti-bullying campaigns will be developed, representing possible strategies or initiatives to deal with bullying and cyberbullying in schools. These campaigns should also include a focus on bullying against children with disabilities and supporting participation by students with disabilities in school life. Anti-bullying campaigns will be developed into different materials (videos, presentations, etc.), uploaded to the resource center, and disseminated by the local community members involved.

2. Sentinel activity

The Young Ambassador will then be the point of reference for the school to ask for help or to report incidents, acting as a bridge between the students and the referring teacher.

In order for children to have easy access to the Young Ambassadors, it is firstly important to publicize within the school who this figure is and share details about how they can be contacted (for example: posting the names of the Young Ambassadors and the reference class in the school hallways or give notice at the school assembly).