ÖFSE - Austrian Foundation for Development Research

Austria's leading research and information centre on development cooperation and development policy. The foundation has been at the service of the interested public ever since its establishment in 1967. 

 

Research & Consulting

ÖFSE's research activities focus on publishing studies, analyses and policy papers, as well as on offering policy and strategic consulting for public and private stakeholders in the fields of both Austrian and international development policy and development cooperation.

 

Events

In its events, the ÖFSE puts current topics of development policy and development cooperation up for discussion.

Actors in public and private development cooperation as well as development researchers, students, pupils as part of the VWA project and media representatives are addressed in various formats.

Educational Projects

Together with our partners throughout Austria and the EU, ÖFSE implements projects in the field of global citizenship and transformative education. The target group of our projects includes first and foremost teachers, students and young people, and involves furthermore a diverse group of actors and multipliers in the field of educational work.

 

Library

Since September 2009, ÖFSE is operating the C3-Library for International Development in cooperation with Baobab and Frauen*solidarität. The C3-Library for International Development is open to the public.

 

 

Eventlocation

In the C3 - Center for International Development in 1090 Vienna, two centrally located, bright, modern event rooms are available - the "Alois Wagner Saal" and the "Audre Lorde Studio". The rooms can be booked through the ÖFSE.

 

Policy Note 44
Margarita Langthaler / Esther Tiefengraber
Critical reflections on the EU education and skills policies in Africa with a focus on the Global Gateway.
The Global Gateway epitomises the current shifts in EU development policy from a focus on poverty reduction to infrastructure investments to boost economic development. These shifts have also affected the EU’s education sector support strategies introducing a focus on employability and aiming at an enabling role of education for economic investments. Policy Note 44 critically discusses some of these trends at the sub-levels of basic, vocational and higher education, as well as the potential risks attached to them, particularly in Africa.
Video-Podcast "Brücken in die Welt"
Was ist eigentlich Entwicklungspolitik? In Episode 1 des Video-Podcasts "Brücken in die Welt" spricht Michael Obrovsky mit Historiker Gerald Hödl über die Anfänge der österreichischen Entwicklungspolitik und über die Ideen, Theorien und globalen Debatten, die das Verständnis von „Entwicklung“ geprägt haben.
Veranstaltung
24.06.2026 18:00
VZ-Praterstern Praterstern 1, 1020 Wien
Save the date!

ÖFSE Development Lecture No. 27 in cooperation with International Karl Polanyi Society u.a.m.
Keynote by Isabella Weber, associate professor for economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, an Associate in Research at the Fairbank Center, Harvard University, and a Fellow of the OSF Ideas Workshop.
Policy Note 43
Karin Küblböck / Simela Papatheophilou / Bernhard Tröster
In response to growing critical raw material demand and increasing instability in global supply chains, the European Union has established Strategic Partnerships with resource-rich third countries.
This policy note assesses the potential and limits of Strategic Partnerships, highlighting the need for policy alignment to protect partner countries’ policy space, support local value addition, provide dedicated financing, and promote demand reduction to ensure resilient and sustainable CRM supply chains.
Veranstaltung
07.04.2026 14:00 - 18:00
C3 - Centrum für Internationale Entwicklung, Sensengasse 3, 1090 Wien
Kritische Wirtschaftsbildung für eine sozial gerechte und nachhaltige Zukunft interaktiv erleben.

Die Veranstaltung lädt Pädagog*innen und Lehramtsstudierende ein, Planspiele, Simulationen und interaktive Methoden der kritischen Wirtschaftsbildung selbst zu erleben.
Working Paper 81
Werner Raza / Julian Maukner
Competitiveness has returned to the fore of European economic policymaking with a vengeance. In this paper, we scrutinize the recent debate on the need for promoting European competitiveness, as prominently diagnosed by the Draghi Report. By disaggregating the overall academic and policy-oriented debate on competitiveness into three distinct conceptual strands – market share-focused competitiveness, productivity-focused competitiveness, and beyond-GDP competitiveness – we conduct a descriptive statistical analysis of competitiveness indicators for both the EU and the US.
C3-Radio
Was bedeutet Wirtschaftsbildung und wer bestimmt, welches Wissen über Wirtschaft vermittelt wird? In der neuen Folge vom C3-Radio widmen wir uns der Frage, wie eine kritische Wirtschaftsbildung aussehen kann, die Machtstrukturen hinterfragt und Gerechtigkeit und Nachhaltigkeit in den Mittelpunkt stellt. Und wie man Jugendliche dazu ermächtigt, wirtschaftliche Zusammenhänge kritisch zu reflektieren und eigene Handlungsspielräume zu erkennen.
Reserach Report 25
Karin Küblböck, Simela Papatheophilou, Bernhard Tröster, Leo Ulrici
A critical analysis of the EU’s Strategic Partnerships on Raw Materials, with a focus on Kazakhstan, Chile, and Rwanda.
As part of its efforts to secure access to critical raw materials (CRMs), the EU has concluded Strategic Partnerships on Raw Materials with 14 non-EU countries. This paper critically examines these partnerships and analyzes the nature, objectives, and implementation of the 14 Strategic Partnerships currently in place, focusing particularly on the cases of Kazakhstan, Chile, and Rwanda.