The history of CONCORDIA Social Projects

How did it all begin? After the fall of the Iron Curtain and the end of the Ceaușescu regime, the Austrian Fr. Georg Sporschill SJ was sent by his order to Bucharest in 1991. There he looks after the many children left to fend for themselves on the streets and founds CONCORDIA Social Projects. A house on Piață Concordiei, Concordia Square, became the name of the still young social organisation.

In order to give these children a home, CONCORDIA Social Projects opens several houses where children grow up in a family-like community, social centres as a contact point for children and young people from the street, and the first training workshops for young people.

In 2004, CONCORDIA expanded its services to the Republic of Moldova. Labour migration and abject poverty there have severe social-emotional consequences for children and the elderly. Over the years, CONCORDIA becomes the largest aid organisation in Moldova. Soup kitchens and day centres are set up in the isolated villages left to their own devices, emergency aid is provided, children without parents are cared for in foster families and family-like homes.

Four years later, Fr. Markus Inama SJ went to Sofia and set up CONCORDIA Bulgaria. In Sofia, too, many children and young people live under the most adverse circumstances.

In 2016, the LenZ Learning and Family Centre opens its doors in Vienna in response to the specific challenges and needs of children, young people and families with a refugee background.

In order to achieve the greatest possible impact and to attract new supporters, the German foundation CONCORDIA Sozialprojekte was established in the same year, followed by its establishment in Switzerland in 2020.

Since 2021, CONCORDIA has also been active in Kosovo, the poorest country in Europe after Moldova. Then as now, we act according to our guiding principle. "We go where the need is greatest."