‘Developing leadership qualities in young people’

AIESEC Delft is celebrating its first lustrum, but what is AIESEC?

“AIESEC (formerly: Association Internationale des Etudiants en Sciences Economiques et Commerciales, red.) is one of the world’s largest international student organisations, with a presence in 128 countries. We try to develop young people’s leadership skills. AIESEC aims to foster intercultural understanding and that the leaders of the future will be responsible and entrepreneurial people. We facilitate internships at professional companies and in voluntary projects.”

What is the difference between AIESEC Delft and IAESTE, the International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience?

“The main difference is that AIESEC focuses on personal development, or more specifically, leadership development. It identifies four leadership qualities that can make you a better global leader. These are: self-awareness; the ability to empower others; being solution-oriented; and being a world citizen. This means knowing what is going on in the world, seeing challenges and finding ways to help. This aspect of leadership development is unique compared to other organisations. Another difference from IAESTE is that we also offer non-technical internships and projects.”

What has AIESEC Delft achieved in these first five years?

“We grew from zero to twenty-one board members and sent almost 130 people abroad. We started with only voluntary projects abroad, but two years ago we added internships in Delft for people from abroad. Six to seven students will come. Last year we added internships abroad. We started with two students and are now aiming for eleven. In total, we are aiming for more than 55 exchanges.”

What are AIESEC’s plans for the coming years?

“Increasing awareness about AIESEC and growing the number of people we send abroad and welcome in Delft. By increasing these numbers we can have a positive impact because all our voluntary projects contribute to at least one of the United Nations’ seventeen sustainable development goals, for example poverty reduction, gender equality, climate action and so on. Our mission is to raise awareness of these goals in Delft and abroad.”

What kind of voluntary projects are we talking about?

“It could be teaching about the sustainable development goals, or teaching languages or other subjects for example. This is in line with the sustainable development goal of quality education. There are projects that relate to gender equality. One young woman did a project in Fez, Marocco, that paralleled the Humans of New York project – a series of photographs in which New Yorkers tell their personal stories. She did the same thing with women in Fez to bridge the gender gap and to create awareness of gender inequality.”