MARE-Madeira Youth Ambassadors
The MARE-Madeira Youth Ambassadors program was started in 2023 with five ambitious, conscientious and (then) high-school students: Martim, Joana, Catarina, Matilde and Sara. The program aspires to improve MARE-Madeira’s engagement with the local community and inspire greater ocean literacy in Madeira. At the same time, the program gives high school students a unique opportunity to lead an institutional initiative and gain hands-on experience in marine research techniques.
This program is student-led, in that the ideas for how to better engage with young people and the general public in Madeira are designed and implemented by the ambassadors themselves. In the program’s inaugural year, the ambassadors hosted a beach clean-up and collaborated with MARE-Madeira researchers and the Natural History Museum of Funchal to create an informational audio tour for the museum to go alongside an exhibit on marine litter (see below). The possibilities are as vast as the creativity of current and future ambassadors!
We are looking to expand our youth ambassadors team and replace those who have now gone off to university! If you’re a high school student and are interested in participating in our youth ambassadors program, please apply using this form. We look forward to hearing from you!
Our MARE-Madeira Youth Ambassadors program is generously supported by the Ma’at Environment Fund. Learn more about their global support for conservation, rewilding and community projects that positively impact the environment on their website.