How we came together:

This project came as a result of previous work among several participating groups, most relevant of which the cooperation between INWOLE and Ethos was. By working together in the course of 2018 and 2019, we got to know Communitism and Thessaloniki branch of Ethos. And recognized many similarities among us, but most of all problems and challenges we were dealing were the same, and solutions we developed were also very similar.

That was the point where other groups and associations, with which we worked, started falling on our minds as potential partners for one somewhat more complex project. So step by step we have included others in our brainstormings as well, organizations with which we developed a partnership relationships through our previous work: GKP, OCC, Italia che Cambia and Im Wandel.

In 2020 just before the breakout of the Covid-19 Epidemics, we have envisioned one new project, which would enable us all to get to know each other better, learn about our indeed similar problems and similar, but diverse approaches, and recognize connection points among us. Such a project was ment to be a sort of test of our complementarity as partner organizations, and gradually prepare the ground for our long-term cooperation.

In April 2020 we have successfully submitted an application within the Erasmus+ Programme for adult education of the European Union, and in December 2020 we had our (digital!) kick-off!

How our project developed further and what kind of activities we had in the course of 33 months of the project duration, you can read in other sections of the web page.

What is the project about:

Due to a global unsustainable lifestyle, there are growing social-economical inequalities, development of inhumane and undemocratic policies, climate changes, as well as underestimation of critical thinking, lack of appreciation for expertise and a general feeling of uncertainty and insecurity. There is a need to prevent such further developments and to promote a more sustainable lifestyle in every society. Such a comprehensive social challenge can be successfully mastered as a multidimensional task involving many actors and affecting simultaneously many different levels of our society.

Our main objective is to stimulate social engagement and active citizens participation in relation to diverse social, political, economical and environmental problems and to empower grass-root institutions (projects, initiatives, communities and networks), which can provide sustainable local solutions.

We want to emphasize the importance of local cooperation, solidary models of self-organization and social innovation in meeting diverse challenges, but especially the relevance of expertise and solutions developed through them and their applicability in wider and diverse social contexts. In this way we intend to underline the relevance and importance of civil society and its grass-root organizations for the overall development of our societies.

This transnational and multidimensional approach of our project enables a wider knowledge-transfer and exchange of good practice among participating organizations and empowers communities and many other relevant stakeholders at the local, regional, national and European level. We hope to influence the regeneration of community relations and the transformative processes of active citizens participation, social inclusion and cooperation through the development of knowledge and paradigms for sustainable social coexistence and cooperative designs.