The World Needs more NOWers
by Rahel Aschwanden, Fenna Oldendoerp, and Annina
With the NOW Journey we want to offer an intercultural and hands-on learning experience that empowers young people to become the protagonists of the change they want to see in their local communities. The pilot edition of our 6-month program will bring together a diverse group of people from Europe and neighboring countries. We need your help to make the program accessible for youth with limited access to traveling and modern educational programs.
Why NOW?
How often have you heard that «youth is the future»? But when does that future start? Climate change, violent conflicts, rising extremism… We are facing too many challenges that cannot wait to be addressed. NOW brings together people who believe that youth has what it takes to create a better world. NOW.
For us, the unique combination of dreams and motivation that young people bring to the table is a key ingredient for social transformation. The NOW Journey will equip participants with the skills and tools that they may lack to start changing their local realities.
Using the group’s diversity as a learning tool, the NOW Journey enables personal growth while also fostering solidarity among participants.
What is the NOW Journey?
The NOW Journey is a 6-month educational program that combines elements of intercultural learning and youth engagement. It brings together 30 diverse* young people to learn based on the following pillars:
In the following slides you find an overview of the NOW Journey:
The best of offline and online learning: a combination of 3 in-person encounters with staying connected while being active locally. 
Each participant identifies a challenge in their local communities and develops a project to address it. 
We meet our participants where they are at and enable them to grow according to their own pace, interests and possibilities. 
Die Teilnehmenden lernen, wie unterschiedliche globale und lokale Realitäten miteinander verknüpft sind. 
Wir schaffen eine Lernumgebung, welche die Kreativität unserer Teilnehmenden anregt. 
The NOW Journey - deutsch 
Learning is based on the diversity of participants: the interaction with each other’s unique experiences fosters solidarity and understanding. 
We create a learning environment that stimulates each person’s creativity and unique expression. 
Participants explore how approaches to social change can inspire each other, connecting local to global realities. 
THE NOW JOURNEY
* Who are the unlikely participants?
While our program is open to all young people, we are creating it especially for those who are unlikely to participate in such programs because of the many barriers they face (socio-economic, language, disability, social marginalization, etc.)
What do we need your support for?
Reducing entry barriers to our program means structuring our program in a inclusive and flexible way. It also means that NOW needs to cover the costs of the program for those participants with limited access to financial resources. We need your help to make the first NOW Journey possible for 10 unlikely participants. Find below the details of the average estimated costs per participant:
- Travel costs NOW Encounter: 350 Euros
- Food & Accommodation NOW Encounter: 500 Euros
- Travel costs Buddy Visit: 350 Euros
- Project Fund: 300 Euros
- Travel costs Future Forum: 350 Euros
- Accommodation Future Forum: 200 Euros
- Material & logistics: 200 Euros
- Contribution to team expenses: 250 Euros
- Total = 2500 Euros/participant
The NOW team
Malte is in charge of our finances and logistics. 
Claire contributes to our network and fundraising teams. 
Elis is leading our program design team. 
Adrian co-creates our coaching approach and is part of our marketing team. 
Rahel coordinates NOW and runs our communications. 
Omer is our expert on intercultural learning and artistic expression. 
Fenna heads our fundraising and impact measurement activities. 
Guto co-designs our program and contributes to our outreach. 
Annina is our expert on religious diversity and co-designs the program. 
Ana contributes to our project management and networking. 
Guille is our techie. 
Elif is our expert in diversity and inclusion. 
Wouter co-creates our coaching concept and brings in his experience with personal development and aikido. 
Marín contributes with her experience in volunteer and event management. 
Zlatka is our expert in migration and working with diverse stakeholders. 
Sara brings to the team her experience with development cooperation and sustainability. 
Eva contributes with her experience in intercultural learning and youth exchange.
The rewards
All our rewards have been chosen to reflect NOW’s commitment to sustainability. This also means that we will try to deliver your rewards in person, whenever possible. It might take up to 4 months until you will hold your NOW goodies in your hands. Thank you for your patience :)
The NOW glitter makes you shine responsibly: 100% biodegradable. 
Colourful and sustainable: the NOW Impact Planer is made out of individual recycled papers. 
Carry anything with style with our unicorn bag made from recycled materials. 
Unique and hand-decorated by the NOW team: our NOW T-shirts are 100% sustainable fashion.