# 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.)

## 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
Belarus
   * Minsk – Belarusian Children's Hospice
   * Minsk – 'Dietski dom no. 6' – Kinderheim no. 6
   * Minsk – Kindergarten for Children with Special Needs
Belgium
   * Brussels – European Disability Forum
Bosnia and Herzegovina
   * Sarajevo – Phoenix Initiative
Brazil
   * 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 and 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
Czech Republic
   * Prague – The Jewish community of Prague
Germany
   * Marburg – Terra Tech
Gabon
   * Lambaréné – Medical Research Unit, Albert Schweitzer Hospital
Guatemala
   * Quetzaltenango – Instituto de Formacion e Investigacion Municipal
   * Santa Rosita – Casa Hogar Estudiantil ASOL
India
   * Auroville – Auroville Action Group (AVAG)
   * Dharmshala – Nishtha, Rural Health, Education and Environment Centre
   * Dharmshala – Tibetan Children's Village:*Dharmshala - Tibetan Welfare Office
   * Kerala – Mata Amritanandamayi Mission
Israel
   * Jerusalem – St. Vinzenz-Ein Karem
   * Understanding Israel
Kenya
   * Nairobi – Kenya Water for Health Organisation (KWAHO)
Nicaragua
   * Granada – Fundación Casa de los tres mundos
   * León – Campo Recreativo MILAVF
Norway
   * Oslo – Jodisk Aldersbolig
Pakistan
   * SOS children villages Pakistan Karachi, Sialkot, Dodhial, Faisalabad, Sargodha, Lahore, Rawalpindi and Multan
Peru
   * Huancayo – Unidad Territorial de Salud Daniel Alcides Carrión
   * Lima – The information and education centre for the prevention of drug abuse (CEDRO)
Poland
   * Kraków – Polska Akcja Humanitarna
Romania
   * Iaşi – The hope of Romanian children
Russia
   * Moscow – Together For Peace (TFP)
   * Moscow – Centre for social development and self-help "perspective"
Uganda
   * Fort Portal – Mountains of the Moon University (MMU)
   * Kabale – Diözese Kabale – Bishops House
United Kingdom
   * London – Royal London Society for the Blind
United States
   * New York – Gay Men's Health Crisis