Local Voices.
Global Justice.
EJA's international youth-development programme: helping young people understand environmental injustice, connect local experiences with wider systems, and turn learning into responsible community action.
Applications for the current cohort are closed.
The next Global Youth Ambassador Programme is expected to begin in January 2027. Further details and application information will be announced closer to the launch.
An international youth-development programme
The Global Youth Ambassador Programme helps young people understand environmental injustice, connect local experiences with wider systems, and turn learning into responsible community action. It is not a research internship or a general awareness campaign: it is an interdisciplinary programme built on four connected areas.
Environmental Science
- •Understand the scientific mechanisms and evidence behind environmental problems.
- •Explore pollution, climate risks, resource management, and environmental change.
- •Learn to distinguish established evidence, uncertainty, and unsupported claims.
Law and Public Policy
- •Examine how environmental harms intersect with rights, responsibilities, governance, regulation, and accountability.
- •Explore how laws and policies address environmental problems, where implementation falls short, and what remedies may be available.
- •Understand that legal systems differ across jurisdictions.
Psychology and Human Factors
- •Investigate how people perceive environmental risks, experience environmental harm, and respond to change.
- •Explore environmental inequality, risk perception, public trust, community participation, and barriers to action.
Storytelling and Community Action
- •Learn to communicate environmental issues through lived experiences, evidence, and local context.
- •Understand how to represent communities respectfully and avoid reducing complex experiences to simplistic narratives.
- •Translate learning into educational activities, community projects, or other appropriate local initiatives.
Science helps explain environmental problems; law and policy shape responsibilities and possible responses; psychology helps explain human behaviour and risk perception; and storytelling connects these perspectives to lived experience.
What Ambassadors Do
Projects are adapted to local contexts and participant interests. Ambassadors are not expected to complete every possible activity or to conduct advanced academic research. The programme values responsible inquiry, collaboration, clear communication, and practical engagement rather than academic credentials alone.
Investigate an environmental challenge relevant to their local community or region.
Explore the scientific, legal, policy, and human dimensions of that challenge.
Develop an EJA Chapter or contribute to a school or community-based initiative, where appropriate.
Create an educational resource, case study, story, presentation, workshop, or other agreed project output.
Collaborate with ambassadors from different countries and backgrounds.
Participate in programme sessions, discussions, and collaborative activities.
Reflect on how local experiences connect to broader patterns of environmental injustice.
How the Programme Works
The programme combines guided learning, collaborative discussion, independent exploration, and a final contribution or project. The schedule, session format, and specific completion requirements for the January 2027 cohort will be announced with the next programme details.
The autumn 2026 pilot
The pilot was designed as an eight-week online programme, with approximately 2–3 hours of work per week, a mixture of live sessions and asynchronous learning, and a final contribution or project submission. This describes the pilot only; future cohort arrangements may differ.
Elements of the programme
- 1Guided curriculum and learning materials
- 2Online discussions and collaborative sessions
- 3Exploration of local environmental challenges
- 4Project planning and development
- 5Peer learning and international exchange
- 6A final contribution, project, or other approved output
- 7Reflection on learning and community relevance
Is This Programme for You?
The programme is intended for young people interested in environmental justice, science, law, policy, psychology, storytelling, sustainability, or community engagement.
Participants do not need previous environmental research experience. Curiosity, commitment, openness to different perspectives, and willingness to learn matter more.
The pilot welcomed participants aged 14–25. Eligibility requirements for the January 2027 cohort will be confirmed when applications open.
Safeguarding
We collect only the information needed to run the programme, do not create public directories of underage participants, and use supervised group channels rather than private messaging between adults and minors.
What You Can Develop
- Environmental issue analysis and evidence evaluation
- Legal and policy literacy
- Critical thinking and interdisciplinary reasoning
- Ethical storytelling and responsible communication
- Research and information-literacy skills
- Project planning and implementation
- Public speaking, educational outreach, and workshop design
- International collaboration and intercultural communication
- Reflection on the relationship between knowledge and action
These are learning opportunities, not guaranteed outcomes or professional qualifications.
From Learning to Local Action
Ambassadors are encouraged to create work with a clear purpose and audience, whether through an EJA Chapter, a school initiative, a community workshop, a case study, an educational resource, or another approved project.
A project's value is not determined by its size or publicity. Strong work shows responsible engagement with a real issue, meaningful use of evidence, respect for affected communities, and a plausible pathway from learning to action.
Not every submission will be published on the public Atlas. Publication, when relevant, depends on review, accuracy, consent, safeguarding, and editorial standards.
Recognition and completion
Recognition is based on meeting the applicable completion requirements, not simply on enrolling. Participants who satisfy the programme's stated completion criteria receive the:
“EJA Global Youth Ambassador Programme Certificate of Completion”
Certificates are not automatic and do not represent a professional qualification. Completion requirements for the January 2027 cohort will be confirmed with the next programme details.
Programme Cohorts
The EJA Global Youth Ambassador Programme brings together young people from different regions to explore environmental challenges, develop locally relevant initiatives, and contribute to a wider international community. Each cohort represents a new group of ambassadors bringing their own perspectives, experiences, and ideas to environmental action.
Future cohorts
These cohorts are planned. Each will publish its own participant countries on its detail page once those records are verified.
January 2027 Cohort
March 2027 Cohort
May 2027 Cohort
July 2027 Cohort
September 2027 Cohort
November 2027 Cohort
Published research, mapped
Published, editorially approved ambassador projects by country or broad geographical region. Ambassadors may choose whether to be publicly credited. Exact locations and personal information are never displayed.
No published projects yet
Approved ambassador research will appear on this map once published.
Completed, editorially approved projects
Published research from the ambassador programme. Each project has passed editorial review. No fabricated testimonials or fictional achievements are displayed.
No published projects yet
Approved ambassador contributions will be showcased here once the first cohort completes the programme.
Practical questions, answered
Your local knowledge matters globally.
Next cohort expected January 2027. Details will be announced closer to the launch.