Our Collective
Thriving Communities is a collective initiative, as we believe that the problems we tackle are beyond what any single organisation can address on their own.
We create space for collaborative work between organisations and individuals committed to our mission and approach.
We work together through regular exchange and meet-up sessions, joint fundraising and projects, a digital co-working space in Slack, events, collective learning labs, training and capacity building programmes, and tailored coaching partnerships.
Members of our collective come from across South-east Europe, wider Europe and beyond. Members of our collective sit on a spectrum from a purely advisory role through to exclusively working with their local community. Many do a mixture of both.
Members of the Thriving Communities collective commit to a guiding set of Core Principles.
New members of our collective are always welcome!
Meet Our Members
Korimako is a social enterprise with a mission to deliver radical change towards more sustainable, equitable and resilient societies. The Thriving Communities initiative is conceived and co-ordinated by Korimako.
Areas of expertise:
- Designing for, and delivering, mission-led change
- Partnership, business and organisation models
- Strategy, portfolio, programme and project development
- Systems, assets and stakeholder mapping
- Investment and funding
- Facilitation
- Training and capacity development
SmartUp Social Innovation Lab is an innovation agency combining strategy and design in developing novel and long-lasting solutions to address existing and emerging societal challenges in order to create a thriving environment for uninterrupted human prosperity.
Areas of expertise:
- Connecting institutions, organizations, collectives, and individuals in order to co-create for a sustainable future
- Design and facilitation of innovation programmes, labs and events
- Trainings on community building
- Design and facilitation of placemaking processes for public spaces
Resilient Cities Network is a global city network committed to strengthen the resilience of cities and communities across the world – through knowledge sharing, collaboration, and collective action.
Areas of expertise:
- Bringing together expertise from a large community of urban resilience practitioners from across the world.
- Examples and case studies of resilient projects and how they create impact
- Tools and methods to support communities and cities to better understand their challenges and build collective action to reduce vulnerabilities
PUSH. is a design lab based in Palermo that works at the interface of environmental sustainability, digital technology and social innovation.
Areas of expertise:
- Applied research
- Training and events
- Social Innovation
- Design Sprints and co-design workshops
Association Placemaking Western Balkans is an association of urban professionals creating knowledge and action for good public space in the Balkans and South East Europe.
Areas of expertise:
- Place-led community co-design of public spaces
- Applied research on public spaces using immersive approaches and digital tools
- Capacity building activities and trainings on placemaking
Placemaking Europe is a non-profit European network with a mission to accelerate placemaking as a way to create healthy, inclusive, and beloved communities.
Areas of expertise:
- Developing and sharing knowledge on placemaking
- Designing and testing placemaking tools
- Advocacy for better public space policies
Niš Science and Technology Park works in partnership with organisations in the City of Niš to create a dynamic and innovative ecosystem to support the city and region’s development.
Areas of expertise:
- Strategic development of the City of Niš
- Innovation support for development and adoption of of new services, products and technologies
- Research and entrepreneurship
KLIK – Križevci Laboratory for Innovation in Climate, is an energy cooperative and NGO of citizens who want to create a better climate in Križevci. KLIK creates change towards a climate neutral city, and becoming the best possible place to live, work and visit.
Areas of expertise:
- Energy transition, with emphasis on community energy and community investments with innovative financial models
- Community engagement based on co-creation and building a supportive ecosystem for civic imagination
- Education for climate change resilience, energy transition and community cooperation
The City of Križevci has positioned itself as a regional pioneer of innovative models of financing renewable energy sources, and it increasingly approaching the ambitious goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2030.
Areas of expertise:
- Development projects in Križevci
- Renewable and community energy projects
- Sustainable mobility in towns and regions
eZavod is supporting Slovenian communities and industries with planning and implementing sustainable development projects.
Areas of expertise:
- Strategy, action plan and project development
- Investment planning, EU funding and crowdfunding
- Project management and co-ordination
- Feasibility Studies and Sustainability Impact Assessments
- Climate challenges, nature-based solutions and biodiversity
- Training and facilitation