Latschkagasse 1
Heiligenstädterstrasse 2
1090 Wien
Austria
- Democracy and community development
- Human rights
- International/Cultural relations
- Others
- Youth and education
The nowadays association started in 1949 as a co-operation programme of protestant youth organizations in Austria, Ger¬many and the USA (nowadays „International Cultural Youth Exchan¬ge“/ICYE). In 1970, the ICYE Austria became an independent association. In 2001, it was renamed into “Grenzenlos – Inter-Cultural Exchanges”.
Between 1997 and 2001, the association started various new programme co-operations – such as the European Voluntary Service (EVS), the co-operation with the Alliance network and the Youth Action for Peace movement (YAP), as well as many bilateral partnerships.
In 2001, Grenzenlos opened its sending programmes for all generations, and also for short-time volunteers. On the hosting side, Grenzenlos joined the international camp movement in 2003 and started its medium-term hosting programme for foreign volunteers in Austria in 2006 (“Experience Austria”).
In order to promote and develop Grenzenlos’ inclusion approach, Grenzenlos co-ordinated an international back¬up and trainings structure for inclusion trainers (“All Inclusive”, see www.allinclusiveproject.org) from 2005 to 2008. All international camps hosted by Grenzenlos include participants with special needs.
In 2009, Grenzenlos decided to give a high priority on the development of domestic programs, promoting a more harmonious relationship between Austrian citizens and immigrants. The result is a mentorship programme for immigrants to Vienna, and anti-racist awareness workshops for schools.
Since 2010, more EU programmes have become part of the Grenzenlos activities – so Grundtvig 50+; Leonardo da Vinci student mobility and projects in cooperation with the European Youth foundation.
Mobility Programmes
Grenzenlos tries to offer a variety of international mobility programmes. These programmmes are dedicated to world peace through the promotion of inter-cultural exchanges.
• Traditionally, Grenzenlos organizes volunteering programmes (individual as well as in the frame of inter-national camps); additionally, we offer a work and travel programme in New Zealand, and we provide a support structure for European internships (Leonardo da Vinci)
• As an exchange organization, we send volunteers abroad and host volunteers in Austria.
• for people of all generations from 18 to 99 years. Right now, we work on special programmes for seniors (inter alia, the EU programme Grundtvig 50+)
• including stays from two weeks up to one year
• for skilled as well as for non-skilled people
• worldwide.
The Inclusion approach is a high priority for Grenzenlos: special attention is given to pro¬moting the partici-pa¬tion of physically handicapped people in our European exchange programmes (MELANGE, that is EVS in Vienna).
Trainings
Grenzenlos understands its international volunteer programmes as holistic non-formal training measures for competence, language skills and personality development.
For its participants as well as for interested persons, Grenzenlos offers various trainings about foreign cultures, travel preparation, language preparation.
Furthermore, Grenzenlos hosts various international seminars and trainings in Austria.
Domestic cultural integration programmes
This is the most recent development of Grenzenlos. Inter-Cultural Exchanges are not only connected to mobility. Wherever migration happens, they take place HERE and NOW. Sometimes in harmony, sometimes in conflict.
Grenzenlos implements a mentorship programme to promote the personal integration of immigrants in the city of Vienna (“Zusammen Leben – Living Together”). Austria-wide, Grenzenlos offers workshops for high school classes which raise awareness about racism and xenophobia (“grenzenlos@schools”).
Grenzenlos was founded after the second world war and has a long experience in intercultural exchanges. We are part of the worldwide network ICYE (Intercultural Youth Exchanges http://www.icye.org) in which we have a partner organisation in Marocco (CSM). Before 2007 Grenzenlos was involved in many MEDA activities such as trainings and voluntary services as it was still priority within the former EU-Youth programmes in Austria.
From these times we still have a few contacts. One of our co-workers in the office has been a volunteer in Israel, later a mentor for EVS volunteers in Israel and Palestine and did her training education in the frame of SALTO-Euromed. Since 2009 we run a local mentoring programme for migrants in Vienna (Zusammen Leben) together with the organisation Interface. Many of our mentees are coming from MEDA countries and we would like to find a way to strenghthen partnerships on different levels again with MEDA partners.
We can on one hand share our experiences we had in MEDA projects and on the other hand shere the experiences we have through our ICYE programm. For more infos we attached our annual report.
As said above we would like to find a way to develop and strengthen partnerships with MEDA partners. Currently we only work on a regular base with Chantiers Sociaux Marocains CSM and exchange long-ter,-volunteers and with a partner in Israel (GoEco). We would like to discover new partnerships and ways how to put these partnership into concrete projects as well as refresh our old existing partnerships.
As we hardly had possibilities to run projects with MEDA partners due to a lack of funding possibilities we hope that we can change this for future cooperations and develop a sustainable partnership strategies.
Beeing member of the Austrian network would allow us to be part of a national exchange platform and give us the possibility to be in closer contact with Austrian organisations outside of our regular activities.