An AFD Project

What is an AFD Project?

The core business of AFD is to give students the chance to work in a multidisciplinary team on a project designed in collaboration with a social entrepreneur, start-up or NGO. On the one hand, AFD aims to have durable social impact. On the other hand, via the projects we want to offer students the chance to gain relevant practical and international experience. The ultimate goal of each project is to realise sustainable and meaningful social impact.

Which students can apply for an AFD Project?

Every student can apply for an AFD project as long as you are motivated! We need students from all backgrounds. Field of study, age, nationality, university,… It does not matter, feel free to apply!

What does a project year look like?

If you are interested in participating in an AFD project, you will first have to be selected. In the beginning of October we start our recruiting process. The first step is to submit your CV, an application form and a motivation letter. After that, you will be invited for a face-to-face interview.

In the third week of October, all the project students are selected and the teams are composed. Then your AFD adventure really starts! You will go on an initiation weekend to get to know AFD and your fellow project students, and kickstart your project year.

During the academic year, you will have weekly meetings with your team (and coach) to work on your project and prepare for the implementation phase in summer. You will regularly have contact with your project partner, to ask for feedback and make sure that you are on the same page. Be prepared to spend at least 8 to 10 hours per week on your project!

Throughout the year AFD also organizes relevant workshops, trainings and events where you will learn skills that you can use, not only in your project, but also in your further career!

At the end of each semester, there is a presentation moment, where you can present your project to friends, family, AFD alumni and a professional jury.

Summer: Implementation Phase

After you have worked hard on the project for an entire academic year, you can finally go to your country of destination to implement the solutions or ideas you came up with! Yay!

You will go abroad together with your team for six to eight weeks. During this implementation phase, you will work closely with your local project partner.

ECTS Credits

An AFD project will take up quite some time, but in many cases you can exchange 3 or 6 ECTS credits for it. The details are different for each faculty. Make sure to contact your faculty on time if you want to receive ECTS credits in exchange for your AFD project!

Examples:

– Faculty of Economics and Business: Geïntegreerd bedrijfsproject / social profit project (D0N74A)
– Faculty of Law: Global Law (C0518A)
– …

You will only know whether you are selected for an AFD project after the deadline of your Individual Study Programme (ISP). This is not a problem since in the beginning of the second semester you can still adapt your ISP.

Financial Aspects

Obviously, an international project comes with a cost. As a project student, you will have to pay for your flights, visa, vaccinations and insurance yourself. However, the project partner will provide accomodation for you, and all project related costs.

The estimated total cost of an average AFD project of 6 weeks is between 1000 and 1500 euros, everything included.

There are some funding possibilities from KU Leuven you can apply for: VLIR-scholarship, general scholarship, … You can only apply for these KU Leuven scholarships if you receive ECTS-credits in exchange for your project, if you are an EU citizen and your project destination is on the list of KU Leuven. These funding possibilities are just suggestions and AFD cannot fully guarantee that you will receive funding from KU Leuven.

In case the financial aspect is a real threshold for you, contact us via recruiting.lvn@afdimpact.org and we will see what we can do.

Interested?

Check out our projects for this year here!