Per Esempio ETS (formerly “Per Esempio Onlus”)

Per Esempio is a non-profit association (Ente del Terzo Settore) founded in 2011 in the heart of Palermo, in the Ballarò area of the Albergheria district (Sicily, Italy). Its team is composed of 51 professionals — project managers, financial staff, psychologists, youth workers and trainers — supported by around 10 volunteers and a wide network of collaborating educators and social workers. Its mission is to build inclusive and equitable communities locally and internationally. The organisation reinforces social cohesion and activates constructive, empowering, innovative and sustainable community-development processes through the active participation of young people, adults, people with a migration background, minorities, LGBTQIA+ communities and civil-society organisations. Work is delivered preferably through non-formal educational approaches that stimulate youth participation and intercultural dialogue. Per Esempio focuses on four key areas: fighting educational poverty, promoting gender equity, encouraging international mobility, and fostering social inclusion and civic participation. Cross-cutting commitments include urban regeneration, environmental responsibility (green transition) and digital innovation. In 2025 Per Esempio launched Prompt4, its department for Responsible AI for Social and Sustainable Impact, created together with its associated partner PUSH (wepush.org), to explore the ethical use of artificial intelligence in third-sector and community work. The organisation is embedded in local, national and European networks — among others the PAL Network, the European Civic Forum, the EU Children's Participation Platform, the Alliance for Gender Equality in Europe, the Anna Lindh Foundation and Libera — and cooperates with UNAR, the Italian national office against racial discrimination. In 15 years Per Esempio has promoted more than 1,000 international mobility experiences with an estimated 80 international partners and 50 local/national CSOs. More than 20 schools and universities collaborate on its educational courses, and every year approximately 600 young people take part in its national and international projects, exchanges and training activities in Palermo.

In pursuit of its mission, Per Esempio designs and manages EU co-funded and nationally funded projects and builds local and international partnerships that promote lifelong learning, training and mobility. It has participated in EU funding programmes both as applicant/coordinator and as partner, leading and implementing activities and outputs under Erasmus+ (KA1, KA2 and KA3 for youth and adults), CERV, AMIF and the European Solidarity Corps, as well as regional and national programmes. Since 2016 it has hosted EVS/ESC volunteers every year for long-term learning experiences in the fields of gender equality, intercultural learning, inclusion and education.