IPB Student Developed Her Leadership Skill through Global Volunteer Program in Taiwan

Experience is the most sought-after element in students’ life.  They started to get their new experiences by joining organizations, as members of the organizing committees, to join the students exchange program abroad. That was the experiences of Dhia Uthamie Ferza, student of the Department of Management, the Faculty of Economics and Management of Bogor Agricultural University (FEM IPB). Dhia applied for the volunteer program organized by the Association Internationale des Etudiants en Sciences Economiques et Commerciales (AIESEC), a student organization focused on leadership. The program she applied for was  Global Volunteer. The program is the annual program organized by AIESEC with the aim of improving leadership capacity for youth, especially students.

The Global Volunteer that Dhia applied for was carried out  in Taiwan for 30 days. There were some steps to be undertaken to be qualified for volunteers in Taiwan, starting from creating an account at the AIESEC International website, selecting one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's) projects, and selecting the destination country. In addition, there are also some requirements had to be met such as Curriculum Vitae (CV), stories related to selected projects, and direct interviews from AIESEC in Taiwan.

"In order to join this Global Volunteer, I certainly had to match the academic calendar of IPB so they won’t conflict with the examination or classes schedules. The global volunteer I applied for was fitted with my academic schedule, it was on 13 January  to 11 February 2018 and at that time Taiwan was winter. For the interview, the question was about SDG's, global issues, and my contribution as a youth for those issues, "explained Dhia.

Dhia's activities were very diverse in Taiwan. Starting from promoting the Indonesian culture, teaching English for the primary schools, and learning more on Taiwan by visiting the tourist attractions there. In addition, the project chosen by Dhia as a volunteer was the fourth point of SDG's, namely Quality Education. Through these points, Dhia intended to help young children in Taiwan to learn or to improve their English.

"I had been an English  teacher for elementary school, because I think mostly children in Taiwan lack of English proficiency. As a volunteer, I want to help them to improve their English to be more competitive in the global world. In addition I share knowledge to them, so also increase my English skills, "said Dhia.

According to Dhia, not only her English proficiency had been improved, but she had opportunity to lead and interact with foreigners. In the Global Volunteer, not only Indonesian students were accepted as volunteers, other  students from France, Turkey, and Malaysia were also undertaking the volunteer project with Dhia.

Through his experience in the Global Volunteer, Dhia acknowledged Taiwan that gave her many positive things. Through the project she had established friendship with Taiwanese friends, as well as the disciplines and the well-planned life the people there. "While in Taiwan, I live with a native Taiwan family," he said. (Wied)