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AWO International e.V. is a German non-governmental organization which was founded in 1998 as a professional association for humanitarian aid and development cooperation within the Arbeiterwohlfahrt Germany (AWO, Worker´s welfare association).

Since more than 40 years, AWO carries out projects of development cooperation in Asia and Central America whilst cooperating with local and regional partners in a participatory approach. 

A basic attribute of AWO International is that we support local development organizations instead of sending german development helpers overseas. We rather follow the principle of helping people to help themselves by working as partners with local organisations as well as by the active participation of the target group in the planning and realisation of the project work. The long-term project phases and the concentration on certain key countries in Asia and Centralamerica have helped AWO International to build up a large network of reliable and committed partner organisations.

Tasks and objectives

1. Development Cooperation

The main aim of AWO International is the self-help-oriented struggle against poverty. Only permanent changes of structures, which cause poverty and hamper development, will be able to fight poverty in a sustainable manner. This applies notably to the development of indigenous population groups. The economic and social circumstances of the unprivileged population groups are mostly defined by the equal access to and not by insufficiency of resources. 

A lot of development countries are characterised by extreme differences of the living conditions of the different population groups. Whereas they have a small, often extremely wealthy upper class, the bigger part of the population continues to live in extreme poverty. The main part of our development work in partnership with local organisations is thus represented by the struggle against the ongoing drifting apart of the above described parts of the community and the aim to offer poor people a chance to improve their living situation.

Development cooperation is consequently also characterised by conflict prevention. Only the permanent securing of an adequate supply of the basic needs of all population groups may result in a stable community and in a reduction of conflict potentials. Most experts agree in the fact that the protection of the natural resources as well as the access to pure drinking water will be the most urgent tasks of the coming decades. Consequently AWO International e.V. also tries to reinforce the ecological awareness and to point out alternative future perspectives of development for example by enhancing sustainable forest cultivation or by building local purification plants.

Therefore AWO International supports projects and programs with the following main focuses:

· Integrated Approach to Working with Youth

· Migration

· Advancement of the Elderly

· Social Security Systems

· Health Promotion

2. Humanitarian Aid

Another important sector of AWO Internationalʹs work is the Humanitarian Aid. The organization is a member of Aktion Deutschland Hilft (ADH), Germany's Relief Coalition which provides rapid and effective aid in the case of large catastrophes and emergency situations abroad.

In the past years AWO International accomplished humanitarian aid in the following countries:

· Tsunami Rehabilitation in India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia 2005 – 2008

· Flood in India, Bihar 2007

· Flood in Mexiko, Tabasco 2007

· Flood in Honduras, Catacama / El Paraiso 2008

· Hurricane in Cuba, Las Tunas 2008

· Flood in Burkina Faso 2009

· Earthquake in Indonesia 2009

· Hurricane in El Salvador 2009

· Earthquake in Haiti, Port au Prince 2010