The International Association of Students in Economic and Commercial Sciences (AIESEC) has existed since 1948. It is a non-profit organisation with no political affiliation, run exclusively by university students and recent graduates, with around 100,000 members worldwide. It operates in 2,400 universities and is currently present in more than 120 countries and territories. Established in Mozambique in 2000, AIESEC has 3 local offices in the country, 2 of them in Maputo (ISCTEM and UEM) and 1 in Sofala, in the city of Beira, as well as an expansion into Nampula and Cabo Delgado. Over its 22 years of existence here, AIESEC has already carried out more than 700 international internships and exchanges, has impacted more than 10,000 young people and has a network of approximately 500 alumni. AIESEC serves as a platform for young people from various universities and higher education institutions in many corners of the world to explore and develop their leadership potential. It is a platform where they can do so through experiences such as the Membership Programme, International Internships, and Project Development and Implementation.
Membership Programme:
The organisation's members manage cultural exchange experiences and professional internships, thus living and working in teams, which allows them to develop their leadership potential. Young people with different academic backgrounds have the opportunity at AIESEC to work in various departments, such as Marketing, Finance, Organisational Development, Talent Management (HR), Public Relations, Partnership Development, Social Projects and Operations (receiving and sending interns).
International Internships:
This is probably AIESEC's best-known programme, given the number of young Mozambicans who have already had the opportunity to do an internship or cultural exchange abroad. The international internship programme essentially gives young people aged 18 to 30 the opportunity to do a professional internship in their field of study, for a period of 3 to 12 months, in any of the 120 countries where AIESEC is present. The programme also gives companies the possibility of recruiting international interns to join their teams and bring more cultural diversity to them.
Project Development and Implementation:
Since 2015, AIESEC has been committed to working alongside the United Nations towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and one of the ways of doing so is through implementing projects on a national scale. To this end, AIESEC joins forces each year with NGOs, Embassies and Companies to implement projects, as was the case with YouthSpeak, a project that aims to debate the world's main problems and, above all, to create practical solutions that will have an impact on the country and contribute to achieving the SDGs. This year, in its 4th edition, held on 28 and 29 July, more than 15 young people, in teams, created innovative solutions in the form of medium- to long-term social projects that will have a positive effect on the communities chosen by the winning teams when they are implemented.
In 2022, besides projects, AIESEC held a number of events, webinars and conferences on leadership and soft-skills training. To round off the year, the 9th edition of the Partnership Breakfast will take place, a forum that brings together the organisation's partners, members of the Advisory Board, members of the Honorary Committee, the Government and the Media at an event where AIESEC's annual report, the financial statements and the plans for 2023 will be presented. Besides the Partnership Breakfast, AIESEC expects to hold the graduation of two classes of the Kwalé a Ideia project, which it is implementing with HEINEKEN Mozambique, the launch of the first edition of Skills 4 Life, the Solidarity Christmas with Bureau Veritas, and recruitment for the Membership Programme, as well as the long-awaited return of the International Internships programme after the outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic.
