European Village is a Greek NGO established in Athens in 2006. It aims to spread ideas and support actions concerning *social and collaborative economy and sustainable development*, through innovative ways of coordinating various autonomous projects, hopefully expanding the bonds in between the rural and the city. The association empowers people through *non-formal educational activities* (learning by doing), *sensitization events* and *vocational trainings*. Firstly involved in intercultural dialog and exchange of good practices in Europe through hosting and sending European volunteers (EVS) and participating in international meetings, it has greatly extended its activities in the fields of *social innovation, living together, non-violent communication* and *poverty alleviation*, in order to meet the needs of people, still strongly impacted by the consequences of the 2008 global financial crisis, and by the current migrant crisis. The association is paying attention to the values that connect a person to a group and how this whole connection is evolving in terms of *solidarity* and broadmindedness. *Non-Violent Communication* (NVC) is one of the ways in which it is developing a non-violent stance and exploring an alternative way of dealing with social and personal life's changes. Since 2009, it runs a *cooperative café* in an emblematic and popular borough of Athens, in which it organizes talks and debates dealing with social current issues and free *Do-It-Yourself workshops* addressed to all target groups. Since 2015, it has strengthened its action towards vulnerable people by setting up an itinerant and social food truck (Nomadiki Kouzina) providing food and warmth to disadvantaged people. Both initiatives contribute to prevent the rising of social tensions due to the misunderstanding of the Stranger, of the Difference in an uncomfortable social and economic context. More on: http://european-village.org/

FORME is a non-profit and non-governmental organisation based in Palermo, Italy, since 2014. It is composed by project managers, educators, social workers, journalists and other actors active in the *social and educational fields* who strongly believe in skills development as a trigger for *positive social changes*. The organization aims at *empowering individuals, communities* and *social networks* through *skills development* and through *mediation* between different sectors. It promotes *non-formal education* as a complementary methodology to formal education. It develops educational courses in order to reach tangible outcomes ant to *bring closer theory to practice*: the education world closer to the professional world. It mainly operates in Ballaro, a popular borough at the heart of Palermo, in a multicultural reality where most of the migrant community is present. It also collaborates with organizations working in peripheral and rural areas of the city in order to address the issues and *socio-cultural realities* as early school leaving and high rate of criminal acts (due to high poverty and unemployment), integration of refugees and asylum seekers*, and *emigration of young people*, due to lack of job opportunities. More on: www.associazioneforme.com

N.E.W. LOOPS is a Portuguese non-profit organization based in Algarve since 2014. It aims at creating a *network of change-makers* and establishing a *participatory educational platform* that can lead to *social, environmental and personal transformation*. It intends to propose *practical solutions*, adapted to both rural and urban areas, making it possible to match the *satisfaction of people's needs* and the *preservation of the ecosystems*, and to *stimulate a new social and territorial dynamic* based on the values of solidarity, freedom and sustainability. The association operates in an area (Algarve, South Portugal) strongly impacted by the financial crisis of 2008 and to the depopulation due to precarious, seasonal and low-paid working conditions and where mass tourism and intensive chemical agriculture dramatically threat the environment, especially along the coast. NEW Loops therefore aims at *supporting social and environmental regeneration*, leading to permanent changes and eventually to a more sustainable future. It is looking for solutions to *turn human settlements into healthy ecosystems* and provides training to people so that they can take action. Thanks to its *transdisciplinary team*, the association applies diverse methods such as *non-formal education, permaculture techniques*, visual and performative *arts*, social and environmental research. Through the organization of local trainings and workshops and its active participation in European projects, it allows people to come up with innovative solutions to tend towards *sustainable living*. More on: http://newloops.spajkit.com/