A large nongovernmental organization born in Europe in the ashes of World War II has been established in Guadalajara, thanks to the efforts of idealistic university students and recent grads who have been setting up social impact and personal projects here.
About 50 people under the age of 29, the majority Mexicans, are involved in the foreign exchange program, AIESEC, throughout the metropolitan area. Many of them meet daily after work at a coffee shop to compare notes and work on expanding AIESEC.
“Our group has a lot of programs in Mexico focused on English,” explained a local AIESEC volunteer from Poland, Bartek Dawidczyk, in flawless English.
Although most young people involved in the group locally are Mexican, English is AIESEC’s operational language, Dawidczyk noted, since it is an international language and the group runs programs in 128 countries. (The acronym AIESEC is made up of the initials of the group’s full name in French—the group was founded there in 1948.)
Dawidczyk, who also knows Spanish, came from Warsaw in September to teach English for two months at a school in an underdeveloped neighborhood known as Cerro del Cuatro. Although Dawidczyk is fully aware that English is a crucial skill for youth striving for a better life in Cerro del Cuatro, he emphasizes that AIESEC members are devoted to loftier goals.
“We have a list of 17 sustainable goals that were established by the United Nations, and some of the most important are to totally eliminate poverty in the world, and to work against hate and intolerance.”
He explained that about one-fifth of Poland’s population died in World War II – the highest death rate of any country involved – and that such grim facts motivated the youth who started AIESEC.
“Young people decided that war just couldn’t happen again,” he said. “If we cooperate between countries through the exchange of volunteers, then we’ll know each other better; we’ll avoid misunderstanding and conflict.”
Although Dawidczyk’s teaching job in AIESEC is service oriented, he explained that another arm of the organization, dubbed Global Talent, gives students a chance to work on personal goals, either in their native country or other AIESEC countries.
“After you graduate, it is often very hard to find a job if you don’t have experience, so AIESEC lines up firms who are willing to let someone work for them, say in marketing or ecology or any professional field. The firm provides minimal financial support and the young person gets their first job experience.”
In Guadalajara, AIESEC has relationships with several schools, including English-teaching schools, and children’s shelters, where volunteers work on projects that have a positive social impact. Corporations such as Hershey’s accept AIESEC trainees getting work experience.
Since Dawidczyk completed two months at his volunteer stint in Cerro del Cuatro, he has continued working there and is also engaged in finding new companies where trainees can work locally. Meanwhile, other local members look for host families to offer a little support for a volunteer so new projects can start.
He is also recruiting members—young people who want to be involved in any aspect of AIESEC, be they from Latin America, the United States, Europe or elsewhere.
“For Americans, there isn’t any better location than Mexico,” he said. “There aren’t many projects in the U.S., but there are lots, and a lot of need, in Latin America.
“AIESEC also has an arm called Climate Change, which gets people working in connection with ecology,” he added.
Information for firms that would like to cooperate and new members (students, or people who just completed studies) who wish to join the organization in their country or the country they are living in: Bartek Dawidczyk, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., http://aiesec.org.