Global Youth Representation

The British Youth Council provides a platform for young people in the UK to be represented internationally on the issues that matter to them.

We believe that young people should have a say on the decisions that affect them and the issues they care about. Many of these issues are either global in nature, such as poverty and climate change, directly affected by global events, such as the financial crash, or dealt with at international forums such as the European Union or G8/G20.

UK Young Ambassadors

The Young Ambassadors are a team of 12 elected young people aged 18-25 representing the four nations of the UK.  The UK Young Ambassadors work in partnership with the Northern Ireland Youth Forum, Scottish Youth Parliament and youth organisations in Wales to deliver a strong voice from the Nations. Meet the Young Ambassadors

We are recruiting

We are looking for two male or non-binary volunteers to become UK Young Ambassadors, one to the European Youth Forum and one to the Commonwealth Youth Forum. You will join our network of grassroots activists to support our work in empowering young people globally. This will involve supporting work including, but not limited to:

  • Running consultations with a wide variety of young people across the UK to identify their views on a variety of key issues within our manifesto

  • Building the UKYA’s external brand and awareness of our work

  • Magnifying our campaigns and initiatives on a regional and local level

  • Facilitating online workshops on themes such as the history of the Commonwealth

  • Researching and engaging with international opportunities not limited to that of the European Youth Forum or the Commonwealth Youth Forum

Latest news and blogs

OUR AMBASSADORS

Thrinayani Ramakrishnan

UK Young Ambassador to the Commonwealth

My name is Thrinayani, I’m 19 years old and study Mathematics with Actuarial Science at the University of Southampton. During my time as a Member of Youth Parliament in Somerset, I’ve consulted with youth to create an employment skills workshop to get young people skills needed for the world of work.

Susie McGuinness

UK Young Ambassador for Structured Dialogue and European Policy

I’m a 19 year old Social and Public Policy student from Glasgow. As an advocate for Girlguiding for the last two years, I’ve been involved in national campaigns to make young women and girls voices heard in parliament and to put an end to sexual harassment in schools.

Namir Chowdhury

UK Young Ambassador to the Commonwealth

I’m a 19 year old PPE student. After being the Procedures Group representative for the West Midlands, I’m honoured to be representing you on the international stage in very unpredictable times for the UK.

Lucy Boardman

UK Young Ambassador for Structured Dialogue and European Policy

Hi, my name is Lucy, I’m 18 and I have just finished my A levels in History, Politics and Maths. I’m going to the University of Nottingham to study History and Politics in September. I was a Member of Youth Parliament for 3 years and am now looking forward to being able to represent the UK on an international scale, as a UK Young Ambassador for Structured Dialogue and European Policy. I enjoy playing hockey and also love to sing.

Lucia Jones

UK Young Ambassador to the European Youth Forum

Hi, I’m Lucia and I’m from Wales. I’m currently studying Theatre and English at Brunel University London. I was formerly a member of Powys Youth Forum and Funky Dragon and have been elected to represent Wales at the 9th Commonwealth Youth Parliament in the British Virgin Islands in October 2017.

Ewan McCall

UK Young Ambassador to the European Youth Forum

I am 18 years old and the European Representative for BYC. I used to be an MYP for Glasgow and West of Scotland.

Bronagh Hughes

UK Young Ambassador for Structured Dialogue and European Policy

Hi! My name is Bronagh, and I am one of the new UK Young Ambassadors for Structured Dialogue and European Policy. I’m 18 years old, I recently completed my A levels, and I’m hoping to begin university in the Autumn.

Europe

The Young Ambassadors work in Europe in two main ways; Structured Dialogue and the European Youth Forum. For a snapshot guide to Europe, take a look at our beginner's guide.

Structured Dialogue

The Structured Dialogue is a space for young people and policy makers to discuss and feed into EU youth policy at national and European level together, as well as a tool to ensure that youth policy meets the needs and expectations of young people across Europe. It takes the form of national consultations which are then taken to EU Youth Conferences at European level. You can find all the recommendations here.

European Youth Forum

The British Youth Council holds the UK seat on the European Youth Forum (YFJ) where we meet with national youth councils and international youth organisations across Europe. Chris Marland and Pegah Moulana are the UK representatives to the European Youth Forum. All papers, minutes, agendas and opportunities are available on the Young Ambassadors website.

Council of Members (COMEM): The Council of Members of YFJ meet every 6 months.  The UK (via BYC) has one voting seat and one observer who vote on Policy Papers and Resolutions, attend / host Thematic Squares and hold the Board, Advisory Panel on Youth and FCC to account.  Every two years, there will be elections to the Advisory Panel on Youth, FCC, and Board.

The European Youth Forum runs a range of other events such as training, conferences, workshops and seminars on key youth issues often in partnership with the Council of Europe, European Presidencies, European Commission and the United Nations.  Members of the British Youth Council often have access to these training events and conferences.

BBC+

The BBC+ (Benelux Bodensee Cooperation Plus) is a cooperation of National Youth Councils that works closely together, meeting prior to COMEM to discuss policies and amendments, candidacies, sharing information and knowledge, supporting new members and offer general help.

Current Members are the National Youth Councils from the following Countries: UK, Ireland, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands, Austria, Poland, German Speaking Part of Belgian Youth Council, Flemish Youth Council.

Commonwealth

Not sure what this is? Take a look at our beginner's guide:

The Commonwealth Youth Forum (CYF) takes place every two years before the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. It provides young Commonwealth citizens with the opportunity to discuss issues, shares their experiences, builds consensus and identifies best practices. Delegates from all Commonwealth nations attend the event and a final communiqué document is produced and presented to Heads of Government.

The Commonwealth Youth Council (CYC) is a pan-regional youth platform made up of representatives from national youth councils from the 53 members of the Commonwealth of Nations. The CYC represents 1.2 billion young people from across Commonwealth countries and is supported by the Commonwealth Secretariat.

Leon Ward and Kavita Sharma are the UK representatives to the Commonwealth Youth Forum and Council.

Youth delegates

A youth delegate is a young person that is given formal negotiator accreditation as part of the UK delegation at international summits such as the G8/G20 and the United Nations. BYC recently supported young people to attend the Y20 summit in Mexico ahead of the G20 and facilitated UK youth involvement with Rio+20.

The British Youth Council seeks to send youth representatives young people at relevant forum and platform as and when an opportunity arises.  We do this either by calling on our pool of elected Ambassadors and Trustees or by putting out an open call to young people.  These opportunities will be shared on the British Youth Council website and on our Twitter and Facebook pages.

Youth delegates are the voice of young people and can play an unprecedented role in influencing a country’s official position and can be inspiring and motivating for young people while helping to translate complicated policy language into something accessible and relevant to people’s daily lives. The British Youth Council continues to lobby Government departments and Ministers for an official elected youth delegate programme in the UK similar to other countries.

Information

For more information and latest news take a look at the UK Young Ambassadors website, follow on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

For more information contact the International team on international@byc.org.uk. 

 

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