Development education

PDCS is a non-governmental organization providing professional training and facilitation services, consultancy and advisory services in areas of conflict resolution, support of dialogue in the society, citizen participation and civil society development in Slovakia and abroad.

We have been bringing to life the slogan of our organization „The Joy of Learning, Deliberation, and Change“ since 1991 when PDCS was started at the Comenius University in Bratislava as part of the international educational program of Partners for Democratic Change. In 1994, an independent PDCS foundation was established which has continued as a civic association since 1997. We are also members of the Partners Network (https://www.partnersglobal.org/) comprising 20 partner centers which share the same mission and values of democratic change.

For a long time we have worked to co-create and strengthen the democratic culture, spread participation approaches and mechanisms for dialogue and conflict prevention. We have provided help in international development programs and arranged cultured dialogue among various interest groups. We fulfill our mission by working with nonprofit organizations, public administration institutions and cross-sector partnerships. Our training courses have been attended by over 25,000 participants in Slovakia and 45 countries and regions of the world, including Abkhazia, Afghanistan, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belarus, Egypt, Georgia, Germany, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kirgizstan, Kosovo, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, the Netherlands, Russia, Senegal, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, the United States, Uzbekistan, and Yemen.

PDCS also published 30 books in 8 languages.

The Afro-Asian Institute Salzburg (AAI) is a non-profit organisation with close ties to the university of Salzburg. It is financed by the public funds and the Catholic Church. The aims of the AAI are to provide educational services on development policy, to enable intercultural encounters and to promote interfaith dialogue.
The AAI is a meeting place for different cultures and religions. We show different global contexts through a varied educational and cultural program in order to raise awareness of injustices and set out development policy issues and its risks in the context of globalization. Affected individuals, as well as experts from the global South have an opportunity in our organization to take the floor. Within the framework of the AAI scholarship program, students from African, Asian and Latin American countries receive financial support, as well as a personal accompaniment and take part in our educational program.

The info center global learning is a carrier organization for the professional promoters of global learning in Hamburg. There will be workshops, materials and learning places for global learning available. Also trainings take place for advisers and advanced trainings for teachers in the subject area: global development. Furthermore, an extensive consultation offer is available.This encloses project development, educational offer development and evaluation, as well as fundraising and high-class development.

The KoordinierungsKreis Mosambik (KKM, Network Mozambique) is a country network association for civil society parntership activities between Germany and Mozambique. More than 140 organizations, groups and individuals are network members.

Network activities include the support of school partnerships between Mozambique and Germany and educational activities concerning debt relief and reduction of absolute poverty.

Activities include seminars on issues related to development and cooperation, publications and three times a year a magazine on Mozambique (Rundbrief Mosambik). Cultural exchange is supported by inviting Mozambican artists to Germany, organizing exhibitions and visits to Mozambique.

African Impulse e. V. is a registered internationally operating, non-profit, independent non-governmental organization (NGO), which campaigns for a fairer world in which the North and South can cooperate, knowledge can be transferred, communities can be given the impulse to help themselves and children and the vulnerable can be empowered.

ICEP is an independent Austrian Development Association with a clear aim: to bring the people to the economy and the economy to the people.

ICEP advises partner organizations in developing countries and companies on the integration of poor people in economic cycles and implements worldwide projects.

ICEP offers the economy with the corporAID Initiative a platform for information, communication and mainstreaming their social responsibility and sets the global poverty fight on the agenda of Austrian companies.

ICEP wants to contribute as a private, independent developing organization to the creation of a better chance for people in developing countries to lead a self-determined life based on their own work and earnings.

ICEP is active in three areas:

1. We implement projects with partners in developing countries that train and empower people.
2. We motivate and advise companies, so that they can responsibly involve in developing countries.
3. We are working to ensure that the development cooperation in Austria is economy-oriented and relevant.

Aktion Tagwerk organizes yearly the nationwide campaign "your day for Africa" the idea is easy and remains topical: schoolgirls and boys in Germany go on one day of the school year to work instead of school and donate their wage to educational projects in five countries of Africa. The campaign is accompanied by comprehensive offers of global learning, as for example holding speeches at the participant schools, photo exhibitions, a newspaper for the campaign etc.

EADI, the European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes, is the leading European network in the field of development research and training. EADI is a Europe-wide network of institutes, researchers and students of various disciplines in the field of development studies. It organises activities and offers facilities for the international exchange of knowledge and experience in the professional field. Its most prominent activity is a General Conference devoted to a topical issue every three years. The official languages of EADI are English and French. EADI is the prime professional association for development studies. As such it promotes: quality in research and education in development studies, the exchange of relevant information among members and with others, the strengthening of relevant knowledge networks at the regional and global level, and influencing both national and European decision-makers in the development cooperation field. EADI’s two objectives are, firstly, to generate and stimulate and exchange of information among European academics and researchers concerned with development issues and to develop contacts with researchers from other regions of the world. And secondly, to promote interdisciplinary studies on specific themes. EADI is financed by its members’ contributions, an institutional grant from the German government and other project-related subsidies and private donations. EADI receives core funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development (BMZ) and the Land North Rhine-Westphalia / City of Bonn.

The solidarity service international (Solidaritätsdienst International e. V.) is independent, party politics and ideological open. SODI stands up for a united, fair and peaceful world in which the natural resources are preserved.

In fair cooperation with women's organizations and trade union organizations, with municipal initiatives, church facilities and cooperatives SODI realizes for over 25 years of self-help projects in countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America as well as East Europe and Southeast Europe.

An important component of the work in Germany is work of information and educational work on developing-political subjects. SODI is specialized in multimedia projects which sensitize above all young people, inform and motivate to exert themselves for a fair and sustainable world. From social transformation to global justice, lastingness and future ability is for SODI, on this occasion, a big concern. SODI takes part with an active engagement in civil-social networks and campaigns. SODI is recommended by the senate management for education, youth and science as a supplier of the global learning.

The association AFGHAN e. V. supports medical care, handcraft and education in Afghanistan since 2002. We have realized many projects in Afghanistan supporting schools and universities as well. The association consists of expert members such as journalists, med. doctors and engineers.