AFS is humbled to receive the 2024 PIEoneer Award for Championing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award from The PIE News. It was an honor to celebrate in London on September 13 to accept the award.
We received this award for our AFS Global STEM Accelerators program, which is part of a larger 5-year Global STEM Changemakers initiative, funded by bp.
The Accelerators program has had remarkable achievements so far:
- Systemic barriers hold young women back from accessing quality education globally – especially women of color and refugees. This gender gap is especially prominent in the STEM fields. The Global STEM Accelerators is designed to tackle these injustices through a 100% full-scholarship, virtual exchange program focused on empowering young women (ages 15-17.5), from anywhere in the world, to become changemakers in their communities.
- And we have results to show: Since 2022, we have awarded 900 full scholarships to girls from 105 countries. (It’s a highly competitive program with more than 2,500 applicants annually). 20% of the scholarships have been awarded to refugees and displaced young women, from countries including Afghanistan, Cameroon, Haiti, Syria, and Ukraine. We expect to award a total of 1,625 Accelerators scholarships by 2026.
- The hands-on curriculum, developed in collaboration with Center for Social impact Strategy at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn CSIS), blends STEM learning, social impact, and global competence. The program culminates with scholars developing social impact capstone projects and presentations that offer potential solutions to real-world challenges, with an emphasis on sustainability.
- Participants earn the Advanced Certificate on Global Competence for Social Impact, awarded by AFS and Penn CSIS. The program provides a rare opportunity for underserved young women to receive university-level certification and feedback.
- To further inclusivity, program funding provides wifi-enabled tablets and technical support to learners with high financial need, or to those otherwise wouldn’t have access to the internet.
This award marks the third major industry distinction that the AFS Global STEM Changemakers Initiative has received in recent years, including Diversity Abroad’s EDIIE Award for Outreach, Marketing, and Recruitment in 2022, and The PIE’s PIEoneer of the Year Award in 2023, celebrating innovations and advancement in the field of education abroad for the better.
AFS is grateful to the partnerships and collaborations that make the Global STEM programs possible, including full scholarship funding from bp, curriculum co-designed by Penn CSIS, outreach support from SPARK and Teach for All, especially to refugee youth, and a diverse, global team of more than 75 qualified facilitators. We are thankful to The PIE for selecting AFS for this important distinction in the field of international education.