Austrian Social Service

The Austrian Social Service (Österreichischer Sozialdienst) is part of the Austrian Service Abroad founded by Dr. Andreas Maislinger in 1998. It offers the possibility to substitute the compulsory military service in Austria with a 10-months service abroad and provides a platform for volunteering services.

Legal Framework

As part of the Austrian Service Abroad the Austrian Social Service is funded and supervised by the Austrian Ministry of Social Affairs and subject to the federal law for the promotion of voluntary engagement (Bundesgesetz zur Förderung von freiwilligem Engagement.)^[1]

Mission and structure

The Austrian Social Service supports socially vulnerable groups and the social and economic development of the host country. Austrian Social Servants are deployed in various kinds of partner organizations in a large number of countries. The focus lies on the developing world.

Assignments

The Austrian Social Servants work in the fields of education, care, medical support, agriculture and economic development for street or homeless children, elderly, handicapped, ill, poor and / or marginalized people. Furthermore, also the field of environmental protection belongs to the Austrian Social Service, partnering with organizations engaged in projects for the protection and sustenance of the natural environment.

Since 2018 the Austrian Service Abroad also partakes in the program Understanding Israel, sending young Austrians to do social service at child-care places and handicapped-care facilities in the state of Israel in cooperation with the Israeli Volunteer Association.

Partners

Argentina

Buenos Aires - Center for homeless children and adolescents

Belgium

Brussels - European Disability Forum

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Sarajevo - Phoenix Initiative

Brasil

Alagoinhas - Associacao Lar Sao Benedito
Lauro de Freitas - Community Centre Christ Liberator
Rio de Janeiro - Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL)

China

Qiqihar - China SOS Children's Village Association Beijing, Qiqihar city, Helongjiang Province und Yantai City, Shandong Province

Costa Rica

La Gamba - Tropical Field Station La Gamba
Puntarenas - Finca Sonador - Asociaicón de Cooperativas Europeas Longo Mai
Puntarenas - Union de Amigos para la Protección del Ambiente (Unaproa)
San Isidro - Asociación Vida Nueva

Germany

Marburg - Terra Tech

England

London - Royal London Society for the Blind

Gabon

Lambaréné - Medical Research Unit, Albert Schweitzer Hospital

Guatemala

Quetzaltenango - Instituto de Formacion e Investigacion Municipal,
Santa Rosita - Casa Hogar Estudiantil ASOL Archived 2019-04-24 at the Wayback Machine

India