We are proud to present an insight into our fruitful cooperation with the well-known student organisation AIESEC which is sending volunteers for our project on a regular basis.
In 2007, PROJECT-E followed its goal as a non-profitable organization to empower young women in Ethiopia with skills to fit in the professional market as well as to have an independent and self-confident mind. The German-Austrian non-profit organization PROJECT-E was founded in 2007 in Heidelberg but extended and registered as a foreign charity in Ethiopia in April 2013. Down the road in 2015 after the establishment of the second vocational training institute, PROJECT-E was approached by AIESEC in School of Commerce (SOC). AIESEC in SOC is one of the local committees of the global organization, which is the world’s largest student run organization with local committees and students in over 126 countries worldwide. The objective of the organization is to give a platform to the youth to exploit their potentials and AIESEC in Ethiopia, being one of the member countries with five different local committees, has the particular vision of “peace and fulfillment of all kinds of human potentials”.
Both non- profitable organizations have discussed possible cooperation opportunities to achieve the shared objective of supporting an empowered female society in Ethiopia. A memorandum of understanding was signed in December 2015. The main objective of this memorandum is to share the spirit of volunteerism and organize the placement of AIESEC interns at the Hospitality Institute, who support the local staff members in their daily activities and contribute to the success of the project.
For the past eight months, two volunteers have been able to champion through the partnership and now it is me, Victoria, being the third volunteer at PROJECT-E. My main task is to increase the impact of the cooperation with AIESEC. I am responsible for promoting the project in my home country Uganda, through all accessible media houses and for identifying and contacting potential donors. Moreover, I train the students in entrepreneurship and leadership to be able to boost their performance in the professional world. These responsibilities will not just stop with the end of my volunteer period at PROJECT-E but will result in designing a report which I will present to my university administrators as well as fellow students once I am back in my country. I will also keep track of the developments and sustain the progress which I personally think, is a way of expanding PROJECT-E and also gives me an experience of the professional world.
It is amazing to see how all the AIESEC volunteers of PROJECT-E influenced the project in a short period and contribute to educate not only empowered Ethiopian women but also independent entrepreneurs with hospitality skills, who will outstand in the professional world. Therefore, I believe that the partnership of AIESEC and PROJECT-E that is based on volunteerism has great impact in the long term and I personally recommend everyone to volunteer in such an inspiring and worth-while place as PROJECT-E.
