Ambassador for a Day Contest: Winners urged to use experience as constant motivation.

This was during a presentation of the youth laureates to the Prime Minister, Head of Government, Dr Chief Joseph Dion Ngute.

It was attended by the High Commissioners of Canada, South Africa, and Gabon, and was aimed at giving the winners a feel of ambassadorial duties at high levels.

The goal of the initiative was to nurture the value of self-believe among young people and to open channels for personal development.  

Speaking during the presentation ceremony, the British High Commissioner to Cameroon, H.E Matthew David Woods, said “we had to be able to inspire young Cameroonians by showing them what it is like to be a High Commissioner for a day and to expose them to the first lesson of what it is like to be a diplomat”.

The move, he added, is to also expose them to the “values of the world and have a day with us and follow us around doing the sort of things we will normally do”.

H.E. Matthew Woods further expressed hopes that the experience will be a constant motivation for contestants throughout their lives, calling on them to continue putting what they have learned into practice. 

The winners of the contest expressed gratitude to the British High Commission for the opportunity given them to meet the Prime Minister and other members of government. 

One of the winners of the contest, Ethel Lehdufe, said: “This is definitely a game changer for me. I never imagined in my wildest dreams that I will be meeting the Prime Minister today and I believe that when I go back to my community and share this with them, they are going to have the capacity to dream a little bit bigger”.

About the contest

The Ambassador for a Day Contest, implemented since 2021, is to give young people the chance to experience what it is like to be an ambassador and learn about diplomacy. It is also to encourage girls to become leaders and advocate change. 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3384 of Thursday March 06, 2025