Network
The Afro-Asian Institute Salzburg functions as a platform for intercultural dialogue, global justice, and solidarity-based cooperation. Within its network, the AAI brings together a wide range of voices and perspectives – from academia, civil society, the arts, religion, and international partnerships. A particularly defining aspect is the close collaboration with perspectives from the Global South. The AAI provides space for people from Africa, Asia, and Latin America to share their experiences, analyses, and visions – challenging dominant Eurocentric worldviews in the process. Through events, collaborative projects, and personal exchange, the AAI fosters a dialogical learning environment rooted in mutual respect and openness.
Alumni
"Since taking part in the scholarship program for One World program, my interest in sustainable development has been awakened. Before that sustainability seemed to be something that was important to others, but now I know that I am a part of it too."Dorcas THIGA, Kenia / PLUS Salzburg
An important part of the AAI network are the students and scholarship holders of the “Scholarship for One World” program. The AAI supports young people from the Global South who study in Salzburg – not only financially, but also socially and ideologically. Many of them are actively involved in the AAI’s work, contributing their perspectives to events, co-designing educational formats, or developing their own projects. Their engagement makes the AAI a vibrant space of global learning, shaped by solidarity, knowledge exchange, and mutual appreciation.
Students from the Global South acquire qualifications and competences during their studies in Austria that can contribute to sustainable social, economic, ecological and cultural development in their home countries. Young people (educated) in Austria take on important functions as experts and managers in their countries of origin. They can set development impulses in their home countries and initiate change processes. Many alumni initiate development projects (often in cooperation with organisations in Austria), work for international organisations or are active in business, science and politics in their home countries, thus enabling the important transfer of knowledge. This kind of capacity building has a sustainable effect and generates multiplier effects. In addition, the alumni take on an important bridging function between Austria and their home countries.
