Purpose of Global Internship Programme

Dear AIESECer (or non-AIESECer if you are interested)

We run two separate exchange programmes in AIESEC:

1. Global Internship Programme
2. Global Community Development Programme

In both cases, young people - students and recent graduates, leave their home country for several weeks and months and have an experience of working and contributing in another country.

For the Global Internship Programme, the internships are inside of corporations (anything from startups, to SMEs to national champions to multinationals), inside government sector in adimistration, in the education sector as a teacher or even as a journalist, nurse, researcher or similar. There is a third party organization that decides that getting a highly motivated, dynamic student with a global world view from another country will help my business in one way or another.

For the Global Community Development Programme, the focus is on volunteering and bringing value to that local community. Typically, AIESEC partners with local or national NGOs to deliver community development projects related to specific issues and topics - be it HIV/AIDS, ecological challenges, cultural exposure, helping disadvantaged groups in building competencies, challenges around immigration - or any other issue that is relevant in the local community. AIESEC brings, again, a highly motivated and dynamic student or graduate for a period of time to that community to deliver change and impact.

Why does AIESEC do this?

The purpose, in both cases, of AIESEC doing this - is to develop young people - the interns and students that get these opportunities. AIESEC believes that in both cases young people will develop a set of values, competencies, skills, professional experience, cultural understanding, work habits etc. which makes this person better. We call it leadership development. It's practical, experiential leadership development. Not through a classroom or through a textbook, but by having to deal with challenges and applying yourself in another country, in another context or organization.

And we believe that young people with these experiences become better people. Better leaders. And that the world will be better of because of it.

Global Internship Programme

When AIESEC started, in 7 countries in Western Europe, in 1948 - AIESEC started with internships of these kinds. Back then, the opportunities for young people to go to another country to get a practical work experience was limited, if existing at all, and it immediately became a "hit on campus". Companies, too, saw this as something new and interesting - AIESEC grew rapidly. Throughout our 64 years, the ability of AIESEC, on a local level, to ensure relevance both to students and to companies, has driven this programme. In the cases where the relevance has been found, and the value delivered, partnerships and student reputation has grown. Where it hasn't, AIESEC has been less successful.

At the very core of this programme, however, one thing must remain clear to AIESEC - and AIESECers, everywhere. The reason AIESEC does this programme is only 1 reason. To impact students and graduates. And the only way that can happen, is if the company sees value, and the student and graduate (A) has the opportunity in the first place and (B) what is delivered on the ground corresponds to that value.

The reason that AIESEC does GIP is NOT MONEY

Now - to run AIESEC as a social business, the business model is centered around companies (especially) and also students (to a certain extent) contributing financially to when these internships happen (if there is value for both, then that makes sense anyway). If AIESEC isn't able to apply that business model, then the organization cannot succeed either.

However..

If any (and I mean any), AIESEC office forgets that the purpose of the programme is the opportunities it provides, and that the money is about running the programme and organization sustainably, then the value delivered on the ground level will not work out. And companies will not work with you. And students will not have a good experience. If you are in an LC or MC right now - do you know exactly how are the experiences of each and every one of the interns that is on a GIP internship in your country? Do you know how the students you have sent abroad and are there right now are doing? Does someone speak to them and their companies on a weekly basis? Are they taken care of? Are they experiencing your country the way you would like them to? Are you experiencing them - are they challenging you with their world views? Why are you doing Global Internship Programme in the first place?

Get your priorities straight. Deliver great experiences.

What about me? I was VP Business Development on national level, responsible for the incoming GIP Programme in Norway just 3 years ago. Where were my priorities? Honest answer: Not always in the right place. Why? I didn't focus enough on that. Did I know every intern in the country? No. Did I focus on everyone being delivered a great experience? Probably not to a high enough extent. I was too focused on making new promises to new companies, rather than fulfilling the ones that had already been made - by me or someone else. Our Internship programme was operating at extremely high marginal profits - and we needed them to - because our scale and sustainability on other aspects was insufficient. And we weren't even looking to investing those margins in the experiences themselves, because we felt pressured.

I would go back, if I could, and change some things. In general, I still speak to many of the intern we brought to Norway - and I hope they had great experiences (perhaps someone reading this is one of them). However, I would have done more. I think the companies would have seen more value - and would have taken more interns had we done that. I think the interns would have become better promoters of AIESEC in Norway and in their companies. And I think we could have had even more impact.

Thanks for reading.

Remember why you are doing Global Internship Programme.

This morning, I had a call which reminded me.