Young people in urban China are not fully aware of the sustainability challenges their country, and the world they face. They are used to living unsustainable lifestyles and are still developing their values. They are generally not used to thinking independently, thinking of solutions, or taking account of sustainability in their decision making or life decisions.
In view of this, the stated goal of AIESEC's Education on Sustainable Development project is “To inspire action towards a sustainable future, through facilitating an educational experience amongst students helping them understand key values which a sustainable society is based upon.”
More specifically, we focus on 5 objectives:
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Chinese High School students to learn more about Sustainable Development in China and globally
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Chinese University students to learn more about Sustainable Development in China and globally
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International University students to learn more about Sustainable Development in China
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Chinese students and International students learn more about each other’s culture and perspectives
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To introduce innovative and creative learning methods into Schools
In order to achieve these objectives, AIESEC recruits international volunteers, who then come to China to give classes on sustainable development topics to local high school students. The project has recently completed its 4th round, having begun in Spring 2007 and having been run on a bi-annual basis since then.
Project History
The project has been running in 4 cities across China: Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Xi’an. To be precise, the total number of participants has been almost 8000 students and 49 international volunteers.
Project Impact
Impact on the students is expected to follow the illustrated format:
Ⅰ)Raise awareness so students know what the issues are.
Ⅱ)Increase this knowledge beyond the basics so students understand why the issue exits.
Ⅲ)Relate the knowledge to the students' lives and the real world so students understand how these issues affect them and wider society.
Ⅳ)Explore which behaviors and actions create and solve the issues and promote the issues.
Ⅴ)Inspire students become willing to create a susatinable society.
Ⅵ)Create opportunities to act and make society more sustainable.
We estimate that key factor has been how much time we had with each class and how willing to participate the students in those classes are. Therefore, we separate the students into 3 categories:
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＠High Impact: large number of classes, students willing to participate
＠Medium Impact: too few classes, students willing to participate
＠Minimal Impact: too few classes, students not willing to participate
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In 2 schools, trainees were given a large number of lessons with each class. This is what we aim for, and what we have now officialised as a minimum criterion for cooperation with the project. Given a large number of classes and enthusiasm for the project on the part of students, we estimate that the project has the highest probability of achieving its goals. This is supported by evidence given by trainees of the “knowledge” and “values” criteria. Therefore, we estimate that in Round 4, the distribution of “High/Medium/Minimal” impact groups was as follows (compared to round 3 on the right):
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round 4 |
round 3 |
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High impact: 20% |
High impact: 20% |
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Medium impact: 70% |
Medium impact: 40% |
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Minimal impact: 10% |
Minimal impact: 40% |
Project partners
An international organization whose vision is of a world in which all children realize their potential in societies that respect people's rights and dignity.
Help the poor directly in rural China like Shannxi and Ningxia.
Project relevence as a Development Education activity: activities that promote public knowledge and understanding of development issues and through improved awareness of our global interdependence encourage joint action to make the world a more equitable place.
Provide the training to the foreign students.
Provide financial support, design and manage the project.
Contact
Jose Carlos Feliciano Nishikawa
Vice President of Project
AIESEC Mainland China
Telephone: +86-153 1173 3905
E-mail: felinishikawa@gmail.com
Miki Yu
Vice President of External Relations
AIESEC Mainland China
Telephone:|+86-152 0121 2592|
E-mail: mikiyue@gmail.com
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