Less than two years after Auroville’s founding ceremony in 1968, the idea was born to create an international support network for the fledgling township. The idea was brought before The Mother and She gave Her blessings “for the realisation of unity and harmony”.

The need to get the international community involved in the building of Auroville had been expressed by The Mother well before its inauguration: “All this is simply to tell you that if nations collaborate in the work of Auroville, even to a very modest extent, it will do them good – it can do them a lot of good, a good that can be out of proportion to the appearance of their actions… I am speaking of the countries’ collaboration in CREATING something. It’s not when Auroville has been completed: it’s the nations’ collaboration in creating something…” (September 21, 1966)

Right from the beginning thousands of people worldwide were inspired by Auroville’s ideals and during the 1970s started forming associations, some already called “Auroville International”, to organize support for Auroville’s unfolding.

Around November 1982, Dr. Kireet Joshi, then Educational Advisor to the Government of India and Special Secretary at the Ministry of Education, visited Paris. He had been instrumental in creating the Auroville (Emergency Provisions) Act in 1980 and was briefed on the work of the various Auroville International Centres. He expressed the need to create an umbrella organization, a legal body of which all these Centres could be members and which in turn could apply for registration with international organisations and governments.

Auroville International (AVI), was registered as a non-profit legal organisation at the Chamber of Commerce in The Hague, Netherlands in 1983 and has functioned as a multi- national support and feedback base for Auroville from its very onset.

Very good contacts with UNESCO had meanwhile been established. Mr. M’Bow, then Secretary General of UNESCO, was a member of the Auroville International Advisory Council (IAC) set up under the Auroville (Emergency Provisions) Act.

The Indian Government promoted the 4th resolution on Auroville in UNESCO’s General Conference in autumn of that year, in which the Auroville International Centres were mentioned: “Noting that Auroville International parts of the world to work for the growth, development and promotion of the aims and Centres have been established in different objectives of Auroville,…”

AVI was mentioned again in the Resolution of the 39th General Conference of UNESCO in October 2017: “Also appreciating that Auroville International Centres have been established in many countries of the world, which are engaged in bringing youth from their countries into contact with the aims and ideals of Auroville and in facilitating internships, volunteer stays and academic research programs,…”

The AVI network presently (February 2023) consists of ten national Centres, which are registered associations in their respective countries, most of them enjoying a charitable, tax- exempt status, plus twenty-seven Liaisons, which may be smaller groups or single individuals:

Argentina
Australia
Belgium
Brazil
Canada
Croatia
Denmark
France
Germany
Greece Haiti
Hong Kong
Hungary
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Japan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Lithuania
Luxemburg
Mexico
Montenegro
Netherlands
Portugal
Russia
Singapore South Korea Spain
Sweden Switzerland Taiwan
Uganda Uruguay
United Kingdom USA
Turkey

The structure of AVI is non-hierarchical, with individual Centres and Liaisons developing their own organizational set-up and their own range of activities, following the idea of national and cultural diversity.

It is one of AVI’s most important tasks to raise funds or provide a funding channel for Auroville’s overall development and for individual projects as well as to organise financial support in times of major challenges, like the tsunami in 2004, the cyclone Thane of 2011 and most recently in the pandemic crisis. Considering it one of Auroville’s major projects of city development as envisaged by The Mother, AVI takes a special interest in the planning and developing of the International Zone.

The “Acres for Auroville” (A4A) fundraiser for land has been initiated by AVI in collaboration with “Land for Auroville Unified” (LFAU). Since it was launched on August 15, 2014, it has raised the impressive sum of $6 Million from donors all around the world. A4A has provided the funds for almost all land purchases and exchanges in Auroville since its start and is presently the only active source of funds.