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Home » Methods » Ambassador concept

Ambassador concept

Lack of permanence and sustainability of project results
1 project manager & min. 20 citizens
high
Training over several weeks
  • Digital whiteboard: Miro or Mural OR shared document (e.g., MS Teams)
  • Video conferencing: Zoom, Microsoft Teams etc.

Explanation of the method

  1. Choose a topic that you would like to promote within the community or city, such as promoting healthy lifestyles.
  2. Recruit citizens of the community who are interested in a variety of topics related to your chosen topic, are already active in these areas (privately or professionally) and are interested in passing on information to other citizens. Good recruitment opportunities include community action days, self-initiated information evenings, health days, local press, but also targeting local health care providers.
  3. Develop trainings that you want to conduct with the interested parties. Prepare materials for the workshops and seminars. In addition to content related information, think about soft skill exercises for the participants.
  4. Meet online for an open exchange with the interested citizens. Present your main topics (e.g., nutrition or stress management) and raise awareness for the relevance of the topics. Take information and suggestions on existing actions, structures and qualifications.
  5. Train the ambassadors. Through several weeks of seminars and workshops, concrete content and methods are taught to motivate citizens for the selected topic (e.g, a health-promoting lifestyle) and support them in changing their behavior and passing on the knowledge.

Advantages

  • The concept enables a targeted transfer of knowledge, which is essential for the sustainability of a project.
  • New insights into the topics can spread quickly with the help of a network.
  • Through actors who are themselves citizens of the community, a sustainable anchoring of the structures can be better developed.
  • By involving local actors, existing offers, e.g., for workshops, can be used

Disadvantages

  • The training of ambassadors is very time-consuming in terms of preparation (creation of materials) and implementation (seminar units, workshops).
  • Recruiting ambassadors can be difficult without a previous lifestyle program (=sensitization & visible effects for the individual). This is because a lack of trust (external actors vs. welded-in local community) leads to a lack of relevance for citizens.

Advice from practice

  • Try to build trust with the citizens from the beginning, only then they will actively participate in the exchange and the workshop and seminar units.
  • Involve the participants in the selection of topics, so that active discussions are stimulated, e.g., through the exchange of experiences.
  • Ensures a pleasant atmosphere at the meetings, e.g., by starting off with an icebreaker and providing enough breaks.
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