This grassroots weaving group was formed after several founding members attended a local history and weaving class, where they discovered the deep connection between weaving and their community.

This initiative focuses on enhancing the influence of citizens on local policies through direct participation in citizen assemblies, public discussions, and through the use of mechanisms like the 'Uitdaagrecht' (Challenge Right).

Zinneke is a project that creates space for encounters, collaboration and creativity. It promotes artistic and social dynamics between residents, associations, schools and artists from different neighbourhoods in Brussels and beyond.

On one level the goal is to support a variety of people to become active participants in building a more sustainable development, on another level the purpose is according to one of the teachers “to release the power of action, to support the participants in getting in touch with what they want and what they think is important”.

The goal is fighting against racist police violence and creating a safe space and room for people who face and experience racism and police violence. And this is done by providing the victims with lawyers and other people with resources that can help them and also by creating platforms for victims to express themselves, share their experiences and discuss solutions, in the form of workshops.

The #BeyondWalls project is an action education initiative that involves students choosing, planning and implementing a project based on their own interests, with teachers acting as mentors and facilitators. The aim of the project is for the participants to implement action pedagogical projects that go beyond the walls of the school, have a social impact and reflect on sustainability issues. The training aims to equip teachers with the competences to respond to the challenges of the 21st century.

Study circles enable small groups to learn together about how to advance their interests using a democratic, interactive and participatory method of education. Additionally, IFWEA enables study circle groups to utilise online methods and digital tools to be able to reach members on a wider scale but with less cost.

Femmes-Tische/Männer-Tische are moderated discussion groups in various languages. Participants discuss relevant everyday issues relating to family, health and integration in small discussion groups. The focus is on sharing personal experiences.

The Davina Project is an initiative of the SAOL Project, a women-only addiction rehabilitation day service that provides a safe and supportive environment where women are met where they are. With extensive experience working with this cohort, the organisation recognised the importance of developing a programme where participants’ voices and lived experiences shape the process, outcomes, and implementation.

The programme was designed to be adaptable, evolving in response to learners’ needs and emerging opportunities. It was developed using universal design for learning approach and the curriculum was continuously refined to align with the learners’ profiles, learning styles, and interests.

Pathfinders Gorey is a unique, bottom-up initiative developed to equip adults with autism with the skills and experience needed to access mainstream education. The need for such a program was identified by local education providers within an Education and Training Board in Gorey, Co. Wexford. During assessments for literacy classes, they recognised that existing programmes were not suitable for this cohort. In response, the management supported the development of a tailored programme designed to create pathways to education.

The Tipperary Student Council’s main activity is to consult with adult learners engaged in education in one of the 27 ETBs across the county of Tipperary, and to represent their needs by advocating to the Tipperary ETB Board, Public Participation Network Board and other relevant authorities. The Student Council is comprised by adult learners who volunteer to be part of it. From this perspective, the level of participation is high at all levels – design, execution, and evaluation. At the same time, the adult learners consulted by the Council participate in the design stage as their views and needs are considered for the Council to subsequently lobby on their behalf.

The research highlights the importance of integrating experiential experts—individuals with lived experiences of adult education—into the development and assessment processes. It discusses methodologies for involving these experts, the benefits of their participation, and provides recommendations for educational institutions to effectively collaborate with them. As a result of the research, the researchers published a Voice Map: a road map on what could be done on different stakeholder levels to take steps in implementing learner voice

The Experience Council gathers experts with lived experience and professionals to advise on how to improve processes and systems for greater inclusion of people with limited basic skills. The council creates tools like tip sheets and films to help professionals work more effectively with these individuals, while also focusing on building trust and a safe environment for them.

RefugeeHelp is an online platform designed to meet the needs of refugees, providing them with information, interactive e-learnings, and community-driven resources to increase their self-sufficiency and integration into Dutch society.

Werkzaak Rivierenland is a development company commissioned by eight municipalities from locations in Tiel and Geldermalsen in The Netherlands, to support people who have difficulty finding or keeping a job without help. Werkzaak Rivierenland believes that everyone should be able to participate in society. Work is very important in this respect, because it gives self-confidence, social contacts and (financial) independence. 'We believe that everyone has talents and can develop them. We strengthen the other in discovering, using and increasing that talent. If necessary, we offer income support or work in an adapted environment,' says Thea. Learning and development is therefore 'daily business'.

das kollektiv is a place for critical educational work. Counselling and cultural work are carried out in dialog or intertwined with it. We understand das kollektive as a place of exchange, criticism, resistance and collective design. In conjunction with and in addition to the courses, many processes and projects, discussions and actions take place here. From here and embedded in a collective, we develop questions that lead us to theoretical spaces. This is where we search, question and learn. This is where approaches and theories are further developed, processed, intertwined, unfolded and brought into a relationship with experience. Insights emerge. Sometimes. Perspectives for political actions and interventions are developed. Or not. Other questions arise. Again and again.

The "dig-mit" project emphasizes participatory and inclusive processes in its design and implementation. The content covers critical areas like labor rights, language learning, and digital literacy, reflecting the input of the target group and alignment with their needs for socio-economic empowerment and improved participation. This participatory approach is also evident in the adaptability of the resources to varied backgrounds and situations.

The perspectives of clients who are women and gender-expansive people have rarely been considered in the history of psychology. Disadvantaged women* in particular are often rarely heard, for example migrant women or single parents affected by poverty. This collaborative research project explores the life stories of women who seek assistance from counseling centers. Utilizing feminist critical participatory action research (PAR) methodologies, the project involves counselors and clients as co-researchers in co-creating knowledge through biographical interviews and workshops. In valuing their lived experiences, the aim is to address systemic challenges and understand the societal conditions affecting women's lives and creating spaces for self-empowerment.

La Verneda-Sant Martí was founded in 1978 in a working-class neighborhood in Barcelona. Rooted in bottom-up, participatory education, it follows the principles of dialogic learning, ensuring that learners actively shape the educational process. Over the years, it has grown to engage over 1,700 participants and has become an internationally recognized model of community-driven adult education.

The initiative aims to center participants' needs through a learner-driven approach, focusing on creating community-based learning environments that empower participants to actively engage and develop skills. Programs are co-designed with input from learners, addressing societal challenges, such as precarious labor conditions and unpaid care work, while promoting transformative learning.

ufaFabrik is a community-based cultural center in Berlin that combines artistic and ecological practices with social engagement. Operating with a basic democratic structure, it fosters inclusivity, sustainability, and freedom of expression. The initiative focuses on providing accessible spaces for artistic expression, workshops, and support for grassroots organizations, emphasizing collaboration and community-driven development.

The initiative employed a co-creation approach where learners were engaged as artists, integrating their life skills and experiences in taking ownership over their digital skills and accessing their rights. Learners are considered as experts (experiential knowledge approach) artists. They are engaged by incorporating their life skills and experiences. There is deep trust in their potential and they are treated as equals, without creating barriers. The educators teach them how to develop their skills and help them become conscious of who they are, of their situation in society and what changes/leverages they can activate.

This is a 1-2 year long distance learning course on 50% study pace. It has 35-40 participants, where the majority are enrolled in the first year (app. 25-30 participants). The course runs September to June. It is a course that been around for quite a while and has contributed to the development of the social entrepreneurship field in Sweden.

The goal of this initiative is to make visible how the participants in the folk high schools' general and special courses perceive their studies from the perspectives of motive, effect, and inspiration as well as the dimensions of democracy, education, working life, “bildung”, self-esteem, social contacts and the folk high school as an idea The results are used by staff and participants at the individual schools as a basis for developing and changing activities. The aggregated results are used at the national level to demonstrate the importance of folk high schools for society and individuals in contact with authorities, decision-makers, and politicians.

In My Story - Our Agenda, the focus is on the participants' own experiences and stories. The work is based on the individual's own story and commitment and links them to the 2030 Agenda's global goals. By starting from the personal, the ambition is that Agenda 2030 will be broken down into something tangible that creates a sense of being part of a larger context and that work for change is possible at all levels.

The Student Council's role is to represent students' interests and contribute to the development of the school. The Council is based on the shared values of Birkagården, is part of the organizational structure of the School, and has its own statutes. The Council sets its own agenda and addresses school-wide issues. The statutes state that the school considers it desirable for the council to be responsible for social events at the school such as end-of-term celebrations, to point out shortcomings in the school's infrastructure or organization, to act as a referent when the school's management develops new policy documents, and to have an ongoing dialogue with the program director for the General Course on ideas for improvement.

The Neighbourhood Academy is a non-formal self-education programme launched by the Pécs Community Foundation. The aim of the initiative is to provide a platform for civil society organisations, informal groups and active local residents in Pécs to exchange experiences, share common resources and develop themselves. The programme will be an annual series of events, where participants will plan the programme together, share their experiences and look for solutions to problems together. The programme places great emphasis on joint planning, active involvement of participants and continuous communication. The Neighbourhood Academy is free of charge but registration is required

Objectives of this initiative are: - To involve students in the use of money for community purposes.- - To provide young people with democratic experience and citizenship. - Develop financial awareness, entrepreneurship and community building. - Active participation of students in decision-making, which helps to build a more democratic and inclusive society. - Generating community responses to student problems, voting on school-wide ideas. - Increasing students' motivation to participate in community events.

The objectives of the initiative are to use theatre and its tools to reach out to society, to try out strategies that can bring about change for the benefit of the community, to encourage active participation and to develop personalities. The programme also aims to familiarise participants with the tools of forum theatre to address issues of concern to their communities. Newspaper News Theatre aims to encourage critical thinking and conscious consumption of media content. Legislative Theatre aims to create a dialogue between citizens and institutions that contributes to the sharing of power. The Forum Theatre aims to turn the audience into play-viewers who actively influence and change the dramatic action

PO’s mission is to root a progressive public forum in Pécs, Hungary. To discuss in a cultured way social issues and concrete matters of current concern to the city, within the framework of participation, inside and beyond the bubble. PO provides a community experience that encourages free expression rather than repression. Accessible to all, it is a niche and ground-breaking forum for debate that connects city residents and creates a public space. Participants can openly and freely express their views on issues affecting their local community. PO creates community. Global issues – local dimension The topics of PO are a selection of the phenomena and aspects of Hungarian society that live with us. An important aspect is that the given topics have a connection to Pécs, a projection and a field of interpretation

The project consists in organizing awareness-raising workshops on gender equality for newcomer foreigners, to help them integrate in France. The beneficiaries of these awareness-raising workshops are newcomer foreigners, i.e. foreigners from outside the European Union who have been legally resident in France for less than five years and have signed the Republican Integration Contract (CIR).

The Foundation skills for social change program is an initiative that equips grassroots leaders in trade unions and community organisations with theoretical, analytical & technical foundation skills to build organisations & contribute to a global knowledge community of worker educators. The program consists of courses which are conducted mostly online on the IFWEA Online Labour Academy platform.

This activity can be used to prepare young people for international mobility and get them to think about the challenges of international solidarity. More specifically, this workshop addresses the relationship between northern and southern countries.

Peace Studies grew out of direct activist experience in social reconstruction during the wartime and post-war period, specifically from the experience of the International Volunteer Project in Pakrac, a project of the Anti-War Campaign Croatia supported by the UN. The volunteer project was a unique example of the work done by mostly young people from Croatia and beyond, focused on the reconstruction of a town that, during the war of the 1990s, had been physically divided into Serbian and Croatian sides.

In order to incorporate the valuable experiences of former course participants into awareness-raising work, the Swiss umbrella organisation for reading and writing runs groups of ambassadors for basic skills in all language regions. These groups are made up of former and current course participants who, as mediators and trusted individuals, are important experts in addressing and raising awareness among those affected. The ambassadors are able to address the target group as equals because they speak the ‘language of those affected’. Their impact on this target group is unusually high because testimonials from people in similar situations build trust and enable a high level of identification. In particular, they convey to those affected the feeling that they are not alone in their weakness.

Lernstuben are an open learning and counselling service to promote basic skills (language, reading and writing, information and communication technologies ICT, and mathematics). Lernstuben are regionally established, low-threshold learning environments. They are designed as modern learning centres where digital, action-oriented and self-organised learning is encouraged in a cosy ‘café atmosphere’ and in warm rooms.

fide means ‘French, Italian, German in Switzerland’ and refers to the Swiss programme for the promotion of language integration. The aim of fide is to guarantee high-quality and effective opportunities for non-native speakers who have immigrated to Switzerland to develop and demonstrate their language skills. The aim of the courses with the fide label is to enable immigrants to find their way linguistically in Swiss society. The fide teaching approach is characterised by principles such as a focus on everyday situations and on practical action and need. In this sense, fide is a holistic and coherent language teaching concept with national quality standards.