What is AISA-GISS?

Sharing ideas, building relationships, and empowering the youth to make change. These are three fundamental principles specific to the AISA – Global Issues Service Summit. GISS has become an event that students look forward to annually as it helps students realize they can make a difference. They work with their peers to consider and develop solutions for Global Issues. These young adults become more aware of the issues in the world, and more aware to the fact that they can make positive impact.

The three-day summit is hosted yearly by an AISA (Association of International Schools of Africa) member-school. It provides an opportunity for students from 8th to 12th grade along with their educators to share their own exclusive projects involving global issues, therefore teaching and learning new ideas and strategies to promote service learning. A special feature of GISS is the Service Learning Day, in which students are presented with the opportunity to go out and act, collaborating on sustainable service learning projects around the hosting city.Untitled

Each year, the host school will assemble a student leadership team to plan and run the conference. This team will then be responsible for choosing the theme for the year and organizing the program, events and all aspects of the summit. Adult educators will serve as mentors to help guide students through the process.

Other participating schools will also establish their leadership teams, through GIN Clubs or Service Learning Programs. These teams will then represent their school during the summit, which includes presenting a workshop on Service Learning initiatives carried out by them.