Latin America

Future dimensions of development education are widely unknown today. Our global living environment and everyday worlds develop in contexts which become more and more complex. Old certainties are dissolving; new orientations can rarely be identified. Thus, it becomes harder to find reasonable answers to the new challenges that are worthwhile for development education; answers which make it possible to impart knowledge and behavior for a future-oriented living.

The editors and the editorial board of the Zeitschrift für internationale Bildungsforschung und Entwicklungspädagogik (ZEP, Journal for international educational research and development education) have established a medium that, for more than thirty years, has been bringing development education and international educational research to the public.

Complex theoretical contexts are picked up and explained in the different issues while, at the same time, experiences and problems are discussed from a practical perspective in a way that they facilitate relevant impulses back to the scientific discourse.

The journal targets educationalists working in development education and scientists from neighboring disciplines as well as anyone who is interested in global learning and development cooperation in schools and elsewhere.

Welthaus Education is the educational department for Welthaus Innsbruck, the network for developmental cooperation of the Innsbruck (Austria) Diocese.

We offer advice on intercultural encounters and intercultural learning for pupils, teachers and adult education instructors. We arrange contact with speakers from other cultures and hold workshops and continuing education classes.

In our "Lebensbilder" (images of life) project, we provide the opportunity for one month each year, to meet speakers of countries in which the campaign "Bruder und Schwester in Not"(brothers and sisters in need) Innsbruck (BSI) or the organization Caritas Innsbruck International (CII) support development projects.

The "Lebensbilder"project focuses on our guests' life experiences. They talk about their lives, countries and cultures from their very personal point of view. The hosts in the Tirol region (school classes or adult groups) prepare for the visit in order to ensure a successful encounter and establish a climate of hospitality.

During this project, a seminar on continuing education for teachers takes place in cooperation with the Pädagogisches Institut (institute of education) and the Religionspädagogisches Institut (institute of religious education) of the Innsbruck Diocese.

Our monthly "Weltcafé" (world café) event provides the opportunity to talk with the speakers about several topics (dialogue between religions, cooperation for development, global justice, etc.).

In addition to our Lebensbilder project , Welthaus Innsbruck will offer study trips to project partners in Africa and Latin America as of 2005. It is our goal to enlist actively committed Tiroleans to contribute to our work and to show solidarity with our partners in Africa and Latin America.

The Catholic university of Eichstatt-Ingolstadt belongs to few colleges in the Federal Republic of Germany at which the employment of Latin America forms a main focus in studies and research. The central institute founded in 1986 (ZILAS) should serve by its activities in research and apprenticeship to create the conditions for a better understanding more centrally of social areas and processes as well as more importantly cultural phenomena in history and present of the Latin American countries.

The Instituto Marques de Valle Flor is a Portuguese Non-Governamental Development Organization that implements Development Cooperation projects (Angola, Brazil, Cape-Vert, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, São Tomé und Príncipe, East Timor) and Development Education Projects.

YFU is a non-profit student exchange program. They place students in over 30 countries and accommodate students from over 40 countries in Germany. For one year, students live with a host family and attend school.

Management Consulting in the public sector

Goals:

• Support and promotion of human rights work
• Research on human rights matters
• Promotion of human rights education
• Communication and exchange of information with other human rights organisations

We work on the local, regional and international levels to promote and defend human rights. This work includes organisation of conferences and seminars and participation in research projects, publication of documents, and educational efforts concerning human rights.

Help for Women in Africa, Asia and Latin America

The Marie Schlei Association was founded in 1984 in memory of Marie Schlei, the former German Minister for Development Policy. According to the statutes of this non-profit association, its objectives are "to promote cooperation with poor women, women's groups and organizations, to help educate and train women, to provide information about the causes of poverty and injustice and to promote equal rights for women. We inform the public about the situation of these women in order to raise and increase awareness as well as a feeling of responsibility and the willingness to help the women and therefore all people in the developing countries."

The Marie Schlei Association encourages women to create self-help projects. In the past two decades, about 300 projects have been successfully carried out in 45 different countries, from Argentina to Zimbabwe. All projects were planned and realized by local women's groups and organizations. In order for projects to be successful, the following criteria must be met: time schedules and curricula have to be adjusted to the women's daily routine. The projects have to be effective and applicable to everyday life in order to make the additional work bearable for the women. Cooking, child care, household chores, getting water and heating material – project work adds additional work to their daily responsibilities. Nevertheless, these women want and need these projects, since they offer them the only possible access to education and training and thus to their own income. Our female partners are responsible for "their projects and the management of the material required. The solidarity among women they experience also creates an atmosphere of partnership and mutual cooperation. The Marie Schlei Association works for equal opportunities and justice.