The year 2025 was no ordinary year for LEFÖ; on the contrary, it marked the 40th anniversary of our founding. From our beginnings in 1985 as a counseling center for migrant women* from Latin American military dictatorships, through our development into the fourth partner organization of the European organization TAMPEP for sex workers, to the opening of the LEFÖ Intervention Center for victims of trafficking in women*, we look back on 40 years of counseling, education, and support work. Much has changed over the years, our name as well as the people who accompany us, whether they are clients, partner organizations, or supporters. Yet the most important aspect of our work has remained the same throughout all those turbulent, moving, beautiful, exciting, desperate, and often angry years: access through community-based political education and participation. Our approach is essential, particularly in a social structure where the very existence of migrant women* has always held political significance but has often been pushed to the brink of marginalization.
In a world of growing conflict and dwindling diplomatic leeway, organizations grounded in feminist, intersectional, and anti-discriminatory values, which create safe spaces for people whose lives are marked by exclusion, are more important today than ever before. At the same time, however, we are witnessing increasing political opposition to organizations like LEFÖ, manifested in the form of sweeping cuts to social services throughout Austria. Such budget cuts not only place the already precariously employed workforce in social work, a field in which women* are overrepresented, in an even more difficult financial situation. At the civil society level, this also has massive consequences for many residents: migrant women* who are already burdened by bureaucratic hurdles, strained relationships with authorities, and physical, psychological, and economic violence. Instead of finding support in the society where they have built a home, these cuts place further obstacles in their path. Financial hardship forces women* to remain in precarious, exploitative working conditions or in financially dependent, often violent relationships, as they do not feel supported by the state.
This phenomenon is not an abstract concern for the future, but a reality. As it has done over the past four decades, LEFÖ will continue to serve as an advocate for migrant women* in Austria who feel left behind by discriminatory social and immigration policies. LEFÖ calls on policymakers and civil society to create, within the scope of their respective responsibilities, conditions that promote the improvement of living and working conditions for migrant women* and all women*, with respect and recognition for diversity and commonalities. Legal frameworks must be reviewed to prevent socio-political exclusion and supplemented by measures that make structural violence visible, curb it, and dismantle it in the long term.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all donors, supporters, sponsors, and volunteers for their valued contributions to the success of LEFÖ’s work and the diverse collaborations in 2025.
Click here for the 2025 Annual Report: LEFÖ_Jahresbericht_2025