Since 1987, IZ has undertaken a variety of captivating initiatives, instigated transformation, and met manyfold challenges.
1987
On March 20, 1987, the inaugural gathering of IZ took place. The association secured financial backing from private corporations, along with an initial grant from the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Youth, and Family Affairs. Moreover, the approximately 30 founding members contributed significant private donations to launch IZ. The elected board members included Helmut Fennes, Irmgard Fennes, August Gächter, Siegrid Spudich-Sperl, and Karl Vogelmann.
The initial undertakings of the centre encompassed the creation of educational resources for intercultural learning in schools, as well as the organisation of diverse training seminars for educators.
In 1989, the Ministry of Education entrusted IZ with the responsibility of managing international students’ correspondence. A year later, the “International School Partnerships” initiative was started, enabling IZ to facilitate and offer guidance on international school collaborations on behalf of the Ministry.
To date, IZ has facilitated over 5000 school partnerships worldwide. Since 1994, the centre has also overseen additional funding for school exchange projects with countries in Central and Eastern Europe.
more than
5.000
school partnerships were arranged
Youth
&
EU
In 1994, IZ received its initial designation from the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Youth, and Family Affairs as the Austrian National Agency for the EU Programme “Youth for Europe.”
In 1996, IZ was tasked with coordinating the EU pilot project “European Voluntary Service.” Eventually, in 2000, the European Voluntary Service was fully integrated into the overarching “Youth” Programme.
In 2000, IZ received the “World Aware Award for Global Education” from the Council of Europe for its “School Network Human Rights” project. The network consisted of 40 schools from 16 countries worldwide, focused on promoting global learning about human rights. IZ coordinated the project in Austria.
In 2005, IZ was honoured with the World Aware Education Award from the North South Centre of the Council of Europe for its “Education for Global Citizenship” project.
2 x
awarded with the World Aware Award
EU and South Eastern Europe
In 2001, IZ initiated the establishment of the youthNET network, concentrating on the Southeastern Europe region. The objective was to enhance collaboration between the European Union countries and Southeastern Europe, particularly in the youth domain. Simultaneously, this exchange aimed to foster the accumulation of expertise and experience in youth work. Through a range of training sessions and networking gatherings, youthNET provided support to projects initiated by and for young individuals in the region.
In 2004, the geographical focus of youthNET is widened. Interkulturelles Zentrum initiates the network youthNET CIS, which focusses on the Ukraine, Russia and Belarus.
In 2002, within the framework of the EQUAL project “Different origins – common future”, various activities were set up in Lower Austria on the topic of integration. For the first time, IZ accompanied four municipalities in the development of an integration strategy.
In 2006, the Academy of Central European Schools (ACES) started for the first time. The project was developed by IZ together with the ERSTE Foundation. By means of a project competition, cross-border school partnerships in the CEE region have been promoted.
In 2007, IZ became the national agency for the EU program “Youth in Action”, which ran until late 2013. Together with a working group of partners – Institute for Educational Science/Innsbruck and the ÖAR Regional Advisory Service – IZ has been responsible for the implementation of the program in Austria. The agency is also supported by the regional offices in the provinces.
200
participants
In 2008, the course “Intercultural Competences” took place for the 10th time. The course has been organised every year in cooperation with the Renner Institute. Since the introduction of this training program, approximately 200 people from various fields of work have participated.
Together with its partner Western Union and in cooperation with the Federal Ministry for Education, the Arts and Culture, IZ launched the VielfalterSM initiative. Vielfalter supports projects that deal with the promotion of cultural diversity and multilingualism as well as intercultural education in Austria. Kindergartens, schools, teachers, parents, but also associations or private initiatives have been able to submit their project ideas .
For the youthNET network, 2009 marks a milestone. With the signing of a “Memorandum of Cooperation”, the network has created a new structure to be managed by its own “Coordination Body”.
In 2010, IZ, acting as the Austrian National Agency for the EU program “Youth in Action,” collaborated with National Agencies from Germany, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, the German-speaking Community of Belgium, and the Swiss Coordination Office to arrange the 2nd German-speaking Youth Forum titled “European Spiced: Join in the Mix!” The event took place in Vienna and attracted the participation of approximately 200 young individuals, youth workers, and influencers.
In 2011, the first Intercultural Competences (ICC) diploma course took place in collaboration with the University of Salzburg at IZ’s Vienna location. Subsequently, the Master’s program in Intercultural Studies (MIS) was introduced and made available at IZ in Vienna.
In 2014, IZ was entrusted with the implementation of the new EU youth funding program “Erasmus+: Youth in Action” (2014 – 2020).
For the first time, IZ coordinated the Austrian Youth Award in 2016.
For the 30th anniversary of the association, IZ started a one-year identity process in the course of which the mission statement of the association was fundamentally revised, the name and visual identity were subjected to a comprehensive relaunch.
The European Parliament provided support for the EU initiative European Solidarity Corps, and the program was endorsed in September as an independent funding program. IZ, serving as the Austrian National Agency for Erasmus+ Youth in Action and European Solidarity Corps, took on the responsibility of managing and coordinating the new funding program.
2020
In 2020, the Austrian Federal Government made the decision not to publicly tender the activities of the National Agency for the program period of 2021-2027. Instead, they opted to transfer these responsibilities to a federally owned company. As a result, the majority of the staff members from the National Agency Youth at IZ were transferred to OeAD GmbH, which would oversee the management of the Erasmus+ Education, Youth, and European Solidarity Corps programmes starting from 2021. Consequently, the international project team at IZ underwent a reorganisation process.