Learn, engage and collaborate with AFS

International Education Week (12-16 November 2018) was an opportunity to celebrate the benefits of international education and exchange worldwide. To mark this week, AFS shared the recordings of plenary sessions from this year’s AFS Global Conference, that focused on Global Competence: Our Future, Our Responsibility.

AFS convenes more than 450 leading educators, researchers, business leaders and policymakers to push for more global competence education at a time when “globalism” is under attack, and nationalism is on the rise. The event took place from 26 to 28 September 2018 in Budapest Hungary.

AFS Czech Republic’s Education for Life Symposium III: “Xenophobia and Diversity — Face-to-Face” took place in Prague on Friday, 9 March 2018. The symposium was addressed by distinguished speakers including Prof. Tomáš Halík of Charles University; Dr. Sumer Bahadur Singh, comparative religionist; Doc. Martin Soukup, cultural anthropologist and others. Read the remarks of Melissa Liles, Chief Global Engagement Officer, AFS Intercultural Programs delivered at the symposium on “The power of mobility programs in fighting xenophobia and promoting diversity.”

Becoming globally competent requires more than simply interacting with someone from a different culture. AFS Global Competence Webinars were full of inspiration, learning, and sharing of best practices on the hot topics in global competence development. Catch up on the recording of AFS’s series of webinars for International Education Week and you’ll experience both personal growth and become better prepared to make a positive impact on others seeking to become more globally minded.

Global Citizenship Education Forum organized by AFS Intercultural Programs and the British Council tackled key intercultural learning and global competencies required for the economies and jobs of tomorrow, and explored how these competencies are defined, delivered and measured by employers and educators in Africa and around the world. The Forum took place on 10 October 2017 in Accra, Ghana.

The AFS in Africa: Global Citizenship Education Forum addressed the status of and possibilities to advance global citizenship education in Africa, as well as the competencies teachers need to work towards global citizenship education. It included interactive workshops about experiential learning activities that help create meaningful interactions and enhance intercultural skills. The forum took place on 7 July 2017 in Tunis, Tunisia.

The second AFS forum in the Caribbean region on global citizenship education was organized under the main theme, Education and Global Citizenship: Developing Essential Competences for the 21st Century. Forum participants discussed global citizenship education in the region as a basis for the essential 21^st century competences. The forum was organized under the patronage of UNESCO on 1 July 2017 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

The AFS Managing Volunteers for More Impact was a hands-on, interactive workshop for new and experienced coordinators to maximize the potential of volunteers and improve the volunteer experience. The workshop took place on 28 June 2017 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and trained volunteer managers on how to do their jobs more effectively, use volunteers more strategically and develop the trainings and tools that will make volunteer activities more successful.

The 3rd Annual AFS Asia-Pacific International Global Citizenship Education Forum took place 20-23 April 2017, in New Delhi, India. Participants discussed the relevance of global citizenship education for employability and the 21st-century workforce, calling for increased collaboration between educators and emplyers.

AFS Intercultural Exchanges Hong Kong and the Asia Society Hong Kong Center convened a joint panel discussion Developing Global Mindsets for Hong Kong’s Future, on 29 March 2017 at the Asia Society Hong Kong Center. Panelists tackled issues such as youth development, intercultural learning and appreciation, education for students to cultivate interpersonal perspectives.

The Unspoken Sacred, organized by the Intercutura Foundation in Bari, Italy took place from 31 March to 2 April 2017 and focused on the difficulty of dealing with religious differences in intercultural dialogue and training. Conference participants concluded that having more open and informed discussions will help people understand the roots of our cultural behavious and mindsets.

AFS Vivre Sans Frontière (AFS France) convened an international forum about Living, Learning and Innovating Together in Paris, France on 4 March 2017. Almost 150 participants interested in creating bridges between diverse organizations and individuals discovered concrete and innovative initiatives responding to the significant need for intercultural dialogue in our society. The Forum included interactive workshops which inspired participants to explore various aspects of intercultural understanding.

The topic of the seventh annual Forum on Intercultural Learning and Exchange (FILE) was The intercultural training of teachers: what, when, how?. This event is sponsored by the Intercultura Foundation (AFS Italy), the European Federation for Intercultural Learning (EFIL) and AFS Intercultural Programs, and it took place in Colle Val d’Elsa, Italy. Sixty experts, researchers and practitioners in the field of international youth exchanges and intercultural learning exchanged research and practical ideas on teacher training and tools to provide intercultural learning opportunities for pupils, especially in secondary schools. They concluded that teachers have the ability to transform lives and the responsibility to help students learn to live together.

AFS Intercultural Programs and AFS USA facilitated a highly interactive workshop, Fostering Global Competency and Creating Pathways to Study Abroad, preceding the 2016 IIE Generation Study Abroad Summit. The workshop was attended by Generation Study Abroad partners, leaders in education, faculty members, teachers and students. The workshop focused on how intercultural learning experiences and study abroad can address and reduce cultural barriers. Participants left this session with easy-to-implement experiential learning activities, resources to develop global competency and strategies to promote study abroad in different settings.

AFS Brazil and AFS International jointly hosted a community impact event during the 2016 World Congress. The EFEITO+ Global Citizenship Education Workshop & Forum leveraged the principles of global citizenship education and intercultural learning to help Rio de Janeiro-area students address critical local social challenges and advance the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in their country. This public event connected the AFS global leadership with local youth and schools for a meaningful community intercultural learning opportunity. The event had two parts: an all-day Workshop on Sunday, 23 October and an evening Forum on Wednesday, 26 October.

AFS celebrated its 100th anniversary by holding two international Symposiums at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France in November 2014. The high level Learning to Live Together—from Ideas to Action: AFS Global Intercultural Education Symposium and the 100 Years Young! Youth Workshop & Symposium addressed the critical challenges, concerns, opportunities and debates surrounding global citizenship education.

More than 1,200 members of the AFS Global Community, representing 57 countries, convened in Paris to observe the 100th Anniversary of the American Field Service (AFS). The AFS 2014 World Congress kicked off the event. The theme—The AFS Effect: Daring to Create Change—encouraged delegates to identify future opportunities for the organization. As a world leader in intercultural learning, AFS held two symposiums at UNESCO Headquarters to advocate expanding global citizenship education. To celebrate, AFSers of all ages reconnected at the AFS Returnee Day and Centennial Gala.