A letter from the President of AIESEC International
The great Brazilian novelist Paolo Coelho has said
2015
“The world is changed by examples, not by opinions”
We envision a better world and our example is to develop youth leadership through our experiences. “We, the young generation, are the future we can bring valuable changes in the world of tomorrow this is why I encourage everyone to be proactive, take part in intercultural events so one day people will realize we live in a small world with beautiful people in every country, on every continent that is a great organization for the work it does and the impact it has on nowadays society.” Andra, Romania after completing her GCDP experience 1948
2014
2013 2012 2011
This is the world we are fighting for. This is our contribution. This is our impact on young people by sending them abroad. This is AIESEC. And we know that by 2015, we need to provide thousands of such experiences. In fact want to deliver 1 million experiences because we hear the world calling upon us to change a generation of young people. If not us – who? If not now – when? We are waking up every morning to because AIESEC must grow like never before. 1948
2015
2014
2013 2012 2011
How are we doing? Currently we are not developing enough leadership through our professional development internship Programme – GIP. And we are not growing fast enough. In GCDP the sustainability of our programme is a concern, especially on the incoming side. See more here and here. And here. And here.
2015
2014
2013 2012 2011
1948
“Basically we are doing some promotion for a company. I don't think it's useful to improve the environment. Furthermore, they offered not ideal accommodation and food for us. We paid 150 USD for our accommodation and 300 USD for 45days food even there are only two meals per day and the food was not offered in the weekends. Anyway it's totally different Job-description with they ever mentioned. I'm so disappointed with AIESEC and regret to come by this way.�
Too often we hear these stories. I wake up every day reading stories of disappointment in our organisation – “I regret to come by this way”. It hurts. Let’s be clear – if AIESEC stops being the example of leadership we believe in, then we will stop developing that leadership as well. We must provide a real and powerful internship (outer journey), and a conscious facilitation of learning by doing, reflection and value generation (the inner journey). AIESEC must deliver Leadership in every experience.
How are we doing? Currently are clear on our why, but we are not translating our operations into an AIESEC that can deliver this. Too many experiences don’t reflect our purpose, and our customers are telling us. And rarely do we implement processes to actively facilitate our interns’ leadership development. See more here and here.
How can this be? How can we grow like never before and develop leadership in every experience? My question is – how can we not? Why would we even be here, the world’s largest student run organisation if we don’t fundamentally live up to our promise of providing the youth leadership our world needs? This is
Leadership in Every Experience
BIG AIESEC.
Grow Like Never Before
Is it hard? Yes. Do we know how? Yes. By being fast, focused and listening to our Customers. I wish for you to be able to say, “I was part of this generation. I was part of Generation Bold�. Happy reading of the Quarter 3 report of AIESEC International.
Quarter Report Executive Summary
It has been a challenging quarter for AIESEC in more ways than one. International Congress in Egypt was both a difficult situation we overcame together as an organisation, as well as a launching point for the year throughout the organisation. Generation 13/14 - ‘Generation Bold’ -, is called upon to make a leap for AIESEC. We have seen strong commitment from the network, in terms of MCs and LCPs to be part of a movement that moves us towards AIESEC 2015 – Big AIESEC. AIESEC International together with MCs have been highlighting a continued clarity of the why in addition to a clarity on the how of the organisation in order to break through the limits.
We are proud to be leading an organisation that is focused on the ‘Why’ of AIESEC through Leadership Development at all levels. However, we identify that in many cases there is a gap between the way we run operations on a daily level on local level, and our true motivation to volunteer for this organisation as young people. From AIs perspective we expect MCs to put a higher focus on the why of leadership development in GIP as well as GCDP to bridge this gap. Our commitment to 2015 requires us increase our focus on our GIP programme, as we are currently not on track to achieve the impact we want to see through the programme.
Big AIESEC calls upon us to develop responsible and entrepreneurial leadership for positive impact. We believe that without a growing GIP programme, we cannot achieve the ambition of impact that we envisioned for AIESEC. Our commitment to 2015 requires us increase our focus on our GIP programme, as we are currently not on track to achieve the impact we want to see through the programme, and this applies to all entities in the organisation. AIESEC International will evaluate how we believe the focus must shift further in order for this to be possible.
It has been a disappointing quarter for our GIP programme. We have no growth in the programme, despite continuous growth in matching. The match to realized ratio is low. Matching rate is 43% for companies, which is dropping since last year, and only 28% of students who get raised end up on an internship. 1/2 students going on a GIP would recommend it with an overall NPS of 40. Despite the challenges, entities that are focusing do see growth, highlighting continuous demand in the market when the relevance is clear.
Quarter 3 is a key peak quarter for AIESEC in our GCDP programme. We grew by 19% year on year in the programme, which continues to highlight the continued strong demand in especially the student market. However, only 2/3 of students we raise end up going on an internship. ½ students who go on a GCDP would recommend the programme, with an overall NPS of 30. The number of detractors is too high, at almost 1/5 experiences. This highlights the continued need to focus on delivery of the promise to students on the programme. This includes a focus on the sustainability of how we run it, as well as how we are co-delivering and meeting the expecations of students on the programme.
AIESEC International continues to focus on product packaging and specific marketing for the outgoing programmes to ensure we are attracting more students to whom we can offer an actual experience – to increase matching rates and results. We expect quarter four to give definite answers on this global strategy for driving demand in the student market. On the iGIP side the continued focus is understanding our corporate partners to better suit our product to the market needs, as our low matching and delivery rates is clearly a bottleneck at the moment. For iGCDP, running the projects sustainably and according to market needs is a strategy aimed and both scaling up the programme and improving delivery, as many issues have this common denominator.
Long term, we see the need for our processes to improve in order to successfully become BIG AIESEC. Quarter 3 saw the successful launch of our Opportunity Portal which for the first time makes our database accessible to students online, and ability to completely target our marketing and recruitment channels through our Global Online Registration System. AIESEC International has also started the specification process of a new Global Information System, to move into a simpler and faster AIESEC to run and experience. The quarter saw us reinitiate our Public Relations efforts, in particular building our relationship with the United Nations. We are working to become the Youth Leadership Provider of the World.
Overall, it is crunch time for AIESEC, and I am convinced we all feel the pressure – globally, nationally and locally. The time for Big AIESEC is now, and the calling is clear. At the same time we should be proud. More young people have gone on an internship abroad with AIESEC in the last 12 months than ever before. Our membership is more than 86,000 young people and we are present in over 120 countries and territories. The pressure comes not from a lack of organizational relevance, but because we realize now that the world needs us to provide youth leadership to impact this world. The time is now. To Own our Promise and Break through the limits.