The current socio-economic and political system faces numerous interrelated crises, as financial and economic crises, conflicts and military attacks, environmental destructions and international political changes. These have resulted in growing fear and inequality which corrode European values of solidarity, democracy, and social justice and reduce their appeal.Reality has come to question the efficiency of the current systems, opening political and philosophical discussions about their limitations and imperfections. Education is a crucial factor for introducing this new problematic and widening its outreach. Given the confined context of formal education, non-formal learning and youth work, in particular, has a crucial role to play for promoting this discourse. STEP Forward (Sustainable and Transformative Education for Participation in democratic life) is a 18-months Capacity Building project including organizations from Greece, Spain, Vietnam, Kenya, Ghana and Peru. It links active citizenship to formal education by drawing attention to the values of sustainability and integrating them to non-formal education activities. It aims at promoting the application of active and participatory education through experiential activities and solution-oriented educational approach. By exploring alternative community models, social and ecological initiatives the project will use information and resources to design a new educational method with the scope to integrate the values of sustainability and active citizenship in the formal education system. The specific objectives of the STEP project are: - Introducing an inclusive definition of Sustainability;- Raising awareness about social and environmental initiatives; alternative economic models; new forms of cooperation and civic participation to youth;- Cultivating and promoting transformative, experiential and non-formal learning and its specific applications;- Fostering critical thinking and democratic education.In order to achieve the project’s objectives the foreseen activities include 1 Training Course on Sustainability and Community Building; 6 Job Shadowing activities, the design of a Training module which will incorporate issues of democracy, civic participation and sustainability in a non-formal education format combining experiences from Europe, Africa and Latin America; 1 Training Course in the form of a Winter School to present and apply the module to youth workers and other professionals of the education sector, and 7 local events for the promotion of the module to the local communities. Target Groups: Educators, youth workers, researchers, project managers, youth organisations, young people, local communities and the EU.