The Nordic Africa Institute

Norwegian Students and Academics' International Assistance Fund, SAIH

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History

Type of organization: National Association for Students and Academics, organizes local committees at universities and colleges. SAIH provides information and organizes on international issues. It also receives financial support through the students' tuition fees which, with additional support from Norad, is used to support educational projects in the South.

Norwegian Students and Academics' International Assistance Fund [Studentenes og Akademikernes Internasjonale Hjelpefond], SAIH was formed in 1961 as a solidarity organisation for students and academics at Norwegian universities and colleges. SAIH collected a small donation from each student as they paid their tuition fees, and the money collected went to various education projects in the South. Parallel to the development aid, SAIH has worked with solidarity issues in Norway, organizing students for various campaigns in Norway, organizing Operation Day's Work (see NCA) etc.

Since the start in 1961, SAIH has funded a long list of educational projects in Southern Africa. Over the years, SAIH has been involved in all Southern African countries except Malawi.

"A large part of SAIH's work through out its history has been devoted to the liberation movements in Southern Africa, and most of this support went to education projects. [...] The support for the liberation struggle in South Africa, especially from the mid-1980s when millions of kroners were given by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs via private organizations within the South African liberation movement, was perhaps the most important time in SAIH's history." (Nina Drolsum, in "SAIH, utdanning for frigjøring", 2001.)

SAIH built and supported a wide range of projects and organizations in South Africa, and established Interfund together with other European NGOs. The organisation was along with the Norwegian Council for Africa, the unions and the church, one of the most important organizations in Norway as regards solidarity for South Africa. SAIH still has projects in South Africa, and is holding Operation Day's Work in 2004 with the focus on violence and youth in South Africa.

The archive of SAIH has been donated to Arbeiderbevegelsens Arkiv og Bibliotek, but has still (2004) not been organized and cataloged. Access to the material must be arranged with AAB in advance, as it is placed in store rooms outside AAB.

Secondary reading: SAIH's official history book was written by Nina Drolsum in 2001 for the 40 th anniversary. She has done extensive research in SAIH's archives.

Access

The archive is not yet organised or catalogued. Archive registry keys for each year and access to the archive can be arranged with AAB.

Repository

Labour movements archives and library [Arbeiderbevegelsens arkiv], AAB
Folkets Hus
Youngsgate 11
N-0181 Oslo
NORWAY

Address

Norwegian Students and Academics' International Assistance Fund, SAIH
[Studentenes og Akademikernes Internasjonale Hjelpefond]
Storgatan 11
0155
Oslo
NORWAY
Telephone: +47 22 98 93 40
Fax: +47 22 98 93 01
E-mail: saih@saih.no
http://www.saih.no/ External link.

Archive extent, country, period and keywords.
Extent:

Unknown.

Ref. code:

ARK-2590

Country:

Norway

Period:

1960-0

Keywords:

Norwegian Students and Academics' International Assistance Fund SAIH Studentenes og Akademikernes Internasjonale Hjelpefond Norway Angola Mozambique Namibia South Africa Zimbabwe Southern Africa Norad History Development aid Anti-apartheid movements Solidarity organization Liberation organizations Anti-racism movements Operation Day's Work