Our story

It all started with a reflection: why are people with power constantly saying “youth are the future”? And why would white men above 50 remain the protagonists when speaking about learning and social change in Europe?

The reflection was transformed into action. We started NOW to create learning spaces that boost the protagonism of young people, that acknowledges the need for diversity and enables young people to create change in their local environments. Since 2016, we have created learning spaces that seek that focus on the development of 21st Century Competencies.

Meet the team

Picture of Anne

Anne Marie

Anne Marie is a NOW learning facilitator based in South Africa.

Portrait of Chris

Chris

Chris lives in Switzerland. Besides teaching at university, he works as a coach and author.

Annina

Annina, who is based in Colombia, is our learning facilitation expert and part of the NOW Community team.

Claire

Claire, from France, is one of the NOW facilitators.

Elis

Elis is our program design expert and facilitator based in Brazil. She’s also co-founder of Instituto NOW.

Fernanda

Fernanda is part of the NOW Community project and leads the business development of Instituto NOW in Brazil.

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Guto

Guto, based in Brazil, is in charge of communications and part of the NOW Community team.

Portrait of Letícia

Letícia

As a learning designer and facilitator, Letícia thrives when working in collaborative settings and is passionate about the power of community learning.

Hülya

In Turkey we have Hülya participating in the NOW Community project.

Johanna

Based in Switzerland, Johanna is part of the NOW Community project.

Kriszta

Half photography wizard, half community event organizer, Kriszta is a NOW alumni team member based in Hungary.

Malte

Malte is a board member based in South Africa.

Myrta

Myrta is a NOW facilitator and the president of the organisation. She’s based in Switzerland.

Ömer

Ömer is a NOW facilitator based in Canada.

Rahel

Rahel is a board member and co-founder of Instituto NOW. They lead the development of new programs.

Zlatka

Zlatka is a NOW facilitator, board member and a logistics and finance wizard.

Our core values

NOW is committed to core values in its work, which are:

Collaboration

Collaborating with other organisations that share our core values, yet bring diverse perspectives to the table.

Love

Encountering others with the intent of a true connection and accepting their complexities, offering mutual support.

Boldness

Daring to be different and think outside the box while standing up for what we believe in.

Social Justice

Seeking to understand the systems and privileges that oppress and marginalize certain people and show up for the fight to dismantle these systems.

Inclusion

Creating learning opportunities that enable everyone’s participation.

Trust

Collaborating at eye level and seeking honest and open communication while cultivating transparency and accountability.

Allyism

Promoting collaboration among different people and initiatives, and promoting social change across causes.

Personal Development

Understanding everyone as a learner and teacher and enabling meaningful encounters that help us grow.

Sustainability

Aiming at reducing the negative environmental impact of our programs through sustainable food, transport and awareness.

Instituto NOW

NOW services are offered through collaboration with Instituto NOW.

In 2018, NOW co-founders Elis and Rahel created our sister organisation Instituto NOW that is based in Brazil. Instituto NOW is a professionally-oriented organisation that seeks to further develop and pass on the NOW experience in the form of consulting, the development of tools like the NOW App, as well as the creation of new programs.

The Instituto NOW team has since grown and has worked with clients and partners in more than 8 countries. Some of the services Instituto offers are outlined here.

Instituto NOW team


Impact reports

We care about understanding the impact we create with our work.

That is why impact measurement is an important cornerstone of our work. We summarized what
we have learned over the past years in our Impact Reports.

Click the image above to access the 2019-2021 Impact Report

You can download our previous Impact Reports below:

Articles about NOW

NOW has been featured in different online publications.

Here’s a selection of what has been written about us in different languages: