History
KAAD is the scholarship organization of the Catholic Church in Germany for postgraduates and academics from (developing) countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Near and Middle East and Eastern and South-Eastern Europe.
Through scholarships, educational events and personal and spiritual support, it supports its scholarship holders with a view to multiplying their activities in their home countries. This is done in cooperation with partner bodies and associations of former scholarship holders in these countries, with the aim of creating (academic) networks and contributing to holistic development that includes the religious and interreligious dimension.
In the process of opening up German Catholics to world church issues and tasks in the 1950s, lay organizations in particular became aware of the opportunities that could arise in this field through dialogue with students from overseas in Germany. Thus, the KAAD emerged from an initiative of the Fulda Catholic Congress in 1954. In 1958, it was registered as a non-profit association based in Bonn.
