Co-Being changemakers

The selection

• 350.orgWashington DC, USA“They anchored a global movement to a single number. The climate fight got a clear line to hold.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• A Buon DirittoRome, Italy“A buon diritto: a non-profit association that has been defending the rights of marginalised people for 20 years, especially those deprived of their liberty. If the degree of civilisation of a country is measured by that of its prisons, the Italian situation is very serious. A buon diritto takes on questions that politics tends to ignore, and which are nonetheless fundamental.”Recommended by Ilaria Gaspari
• Abderazzak BenchaabaneMarrakech, Morocco“Forty years documenting Morocco's plants. He saved knowledge that was about to disappear.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Africa Center Hong KongHong Kong, ChinaRecommended by Cesar Jung-Harada
• AlenviParis, France“Small teams of caregivers who own their work. It gives dignity to everyone in the room.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Ama, Japanese Freediving WomenMie Prefecture, Japan“Two thousand years of diving in rhythm with the sea, taking only enough to come back. They still teach us how to live with the ocean.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Atelier Berger MilàParis, France“A young Franco-Spanish duo who treat architecture as the tissue between people and their territory. A quiet, exacting practice, from a single room to the fabric of a city.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• BiltokiAnglet, France“They bring a covered market back to life by trusting the small producers who already feed the town.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• BIOfábrikGuayaquil, EcuadorRecommended by Simon Bernard
• Brique par BriqueMontreal, CanadaRecommended by JJ Hazoumé
• BôndyAntananarivo, Madagascar“They reconnect Madagascar's communities with the forest they depend on. Regeneration done with people.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• C# See Sharp LabTurin, Italy“Gloria Campaner, a renowned pianist, has been giving concerts since the age of five and knows well the iron discipline musicians are subjected to during their training. That is why she created C#SeeSharp, a creative laboratory that allows those who study music (and not only them) to become acquainted with their emotional life without having to repress it. Because she has put her talent and her exceptional experience at the service of those following the same path as her, with a generosity that is in itself a true creative force.”Recommended by Ilaria Gaspari
• Café JoyeuxParis, France“A café run by people with disabilities, with real hospitality. Inclusion becomes ordinary, and warm.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Café MarulandaYotoco, Colombia“A former guerrilla who grows peace through coffee. A second life, and one to celebrate.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• CecosesolaBarquisimeto, Venezuela“A hundred thousand families have run their own markets and clinics by assembly since 1967. I feel small next to that.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Ceinture Aliment-Terre LiégeoiseLiège, BelgiumRecommended by Rob Hopkins
• Centre Culturel des Afro-descendants de Montréal - CCAMMontreal, CanadaRecommended by JJ Hazoumé
• CERNGenève, Switzerland“Seventeen thousand scientists from a hundred countries work there as one. This is where the Higgs was found and the web was invented.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Charles-Edouard NotredameLille, FranceRecommended by Constance Albanel
• CopenhillCopenhagen, Denmark“A power plant you can ski down. Bold, and I respect that they also show its contradictions honestly.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• DiazomaAthens, Greece“They bring ancient theatres back to life for the towns around them. Heritage that still breathes.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Elle BarbaraMontreal, CanadaRecommended by JJ Hazoumé
• Elman Peace and Human Rights CentreMogadishu, Somalia“Ilwad chose to go back to Mogadishu to do this work. That choice tells you everything.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Enzo TortoraMilan, Italy“Because his wrongful imprisonment became a catalyst for Italian judicial reform, and because he transformed personal injustice into a campaign for systemic change.”Recommended by Alberto Alemanno
• Equal Justice InitiativeMontgomery, USA“Bryan Stevenson says change starts when you get close to injustice. I believe him.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Etienne JarrierParis, France“Finding new ways to resist. Music emerged as one of them.”Recommended by Coralie Custos Quatreville
• EurasantéLille, France“A health-innovation cluster gave a whole region a future after heavy industry.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Father Manuel RuizSanto Domingo, Dominican RepublicRecommended by Simon Bernard
• Floating FarmRotterdam, Netherlands“A dairy farm floating in Rotterdam's port. A playful answer to cities running out of room.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Florence RizzoParis, FranceRecommended by Constance Albanel
• Ford FoundationNew York, USA“They aimed their giving straight at inequality and pulled their money out of fossil fuels. That is leadership, and it should be named.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Fortuna CoolsManila, PhilippinesRecommended by Simon Bernard
• Françoise VergèsSaint-Denis, La Réunion“Who cleans the world, and who keeps it running? Françoise Vergès reflects on the politics of maintenance and the invisible labor performed by women.”Recommended by Coralie Custos Quatreville
• FratriesNantes, France“Sharing an ordinary city flat turns out to be the most dignified support you can offer.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Germaine AcognyToubab Dialaw, Senegal“Because gesture and movement are, above all, a constant rethinking of openness.”Recommended by Coralie Custos Quatreville
• Gesda FoundationGeneva, Switzerland“They look ahead to where science and diplomacy will collide. Patient work, and necessary.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Growing CommunitiesLondon, UKRecommended by Rob Hopkins
• GUILDSingapore, SingaporeRecommended by Cesar Jung-Harada
• Hannah ArendtNew York City, USA“Because she insisted on understanding politics as the realm of human plurality and action rather than administration, and because she never stopped asking what makes democratic life possible beyond bureaucratic processes.”Recommended by Alberto Alemanno
• HasdeoRaipur, India“Alok stands between the forest and the mine, and he does it by giving a louder voice to the people who live there.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Heatherwick StudioLondon, UK“Thomas argues that buildings should move us. His work makes the argument for him.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Hepburn WindLeonards Hill, AustraliaRecommended by Søren Hermansen
• Hindou Oumarou IbrahimN'Djamena, Chad“Hindou brings her community's knowledge of the land to the world stage. We need that voice.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Ibn Al Baytar / Zoubida CharroufRabat, Morocco“Zoubida gave argan its science, and made sure the women who harvest it earn from it.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Indigenous Clean EnergyOttawa, CanadaRecommended by Søren Hermansen
• InovaYaLyon, FranceRecommended by Simon Bernard
• isiMpondoXolobeni, South Africa“Their stand for ancestral land says it plainly: protecting a place and honouring the people on it are the same thing.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• JazzilePutignano, Italy“Jazzile is a social cooperative that supports wine producers with the aim of creating a community cellar based on agroecological principles and natural, artisanal winemaking, for those who wish to share spaces and knowledge while respecting the diversity of the people, businesses and territories involved. Because the idea of sharing the means of production by building a network of solidarity is a beautiful one.”Recommended by Ilaria Gaspari
• Judith ShklarCambridge, MA, USA“Because she built an entire political theory around “putting cruelty first” as the foundation of liberalism, and because she showed that defending ordinary citizens from arbitrary power - whether public or private - is the core democratic project, not some secondary concern after we’ve sorted out grand constitutional principles.”Recommended by Alberto Alemanno
• Kufunda Learning VillageHarare, ZimbabweRecommended by Søren Hermansen
• Kéré ArchitectureBerlin, Germany“Francis Kéré builds with local hands and local materials, and the community owns what gets built.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• La Ferme des VolonteuxBeaumont-lès-Valence, France“A collective farm run as a worker cooperative in the Drôme, La Ferme des Volonteux pools land, tools and know-how around organic market gardening, direct sales and the training of future farmers.”Recommended by Paul Emilieu Marchesseau
• La MaestraParis, FranceRecommended by Constance Albanel
• La maison perchéeParis, FranceRecommended by Constance Albanel
• La Preuve par 7Paris, France“They prove an idea by doing it, with the people who live there. That is urbanism I trust.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• LazareNantes, FranceRecommended by Constance Albanel
• Le Petit Vélo JauneBruxelles, BelgiumRecommended by Constance Albanel
• Les Beaux MetsMarseille, France“A Marseille kitchen where excellence and second chances grow together. And the food is good.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Les Fruits DéfendusMontreal, CanadaRecommended by JJ Hazoumé
• Les Invités au FestinBesançon, FranceRecommended by Constance Albanel
• Libera TerraCorleone, Italy“Land taken from the mafia, turned into honest farming work. Justice you can taste.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Live Love RecycleBeyruth, LebanonRecommended by Simon Bernard
• Low-Tech LabConcarneau, France“Every solution they test is published open source. The knowledge belongs to everyone, and that is what stays with me.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• makesenseParis, France“They put collective intelligence to work for changemakers, two hours at a time.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Malene LundenSamsø, DenmarkRecommended by Søren Hermansen
• MareBluGarabito, Costa RicaRecommended by Simon Bernard
• Mariam KeitaConakry, GuineaRecommended by Simon Bernard
• Mellon FoundationNew York, USA“They put the arts and the humanities first in what they fund. It takes some nerve, and I respect it.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Mondragon CorporationMondragon, Spain“Eighty thousand worker-owners have governed their own companies since 1956. I know no more serious alternative to shareholder capitalism.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• My Human KitNantes, France“Nicolas lost his hand and turned that into an open lab, where people design their own solutions.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• NavdanyaDehradun, India“Vandana Shiva defends seeds as a commons. That fight protects farmers everywhere.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Never Was AverageMontreal, CanadaRecommended by JJ Hazoumé
• New RoomMontreal, CanadaRecommended by JJ Hazoumé
• NightlineParis, FranceRecommended by Constance Albanel
• Novo Nordisk FoundationCopenhagen, Denmark“The scale of their giving is enormous. I respect that so much of it goes to the health of ordinary people.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Nyaguthii ChegeNairobi, Kenya“Carrying Wangari Maathai's vision forward is no small task. Under Chege, a founding African environmental movement stays rooted in the women and communities who do the planting.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Ocean AliveSetúbal, Portugal“Raquel hands the protection of the seagrass to the fisherwomen who know the estuary best.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Paul Emilieu StudioParis, France“He starts every project from what already exists. Craft and conscience, working together.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Philippe AlbanelLyon, FranceRecommended by Constance Albanel
• Philo BoxeMontreal, CanadaRecommended by JJ Hazoumé
• PhytobokazPetit-Bourg, Guadeloupe, France“Dr Joseph puts Caribbean plant knowledge on the scientific footing it always deserved.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Pierre RosanvallonParis, France“Because he built an entire intellectual project around making democracy work better rather than just critiquing it, and because he showed that rigorous scholarship and public engagement are not just compatible but necessary complements.”Recommended by Alberto Alemanno
• Plastic FlamingoMuntinlupa City, PhilippinesRecommended by Simon Bernard
• Plastic OdysseyMarseille, France“Simon's ship goes from port to port and shows coastal towns how to turn their plastic into something they can use locally.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Plateau UrbainParis, France“They keep empty buildings alive between two projects, and make room for people who could never afford the rent.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Potato headSeminyak, IndonesiaRecommended by Simon Bernard
• Refettorio ParisParis, France“Bottura turns surplus food into beautiful meals, served with dignity. The beauty is part of it.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Refugee Food FestivalParis, France“Refugee chefs in great kitchens. They arrive as talent, with stories you can taste.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Rotor DeconstructionBruxelles, Belgium“They prove that salvaging a building's materials can pay for itself. That is what convinces builders.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• SailcoopVannes, France“They make crossing the Atlantic by sail a real option again. I like that.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Samsø Energy AcademySamsø, Denmark“An island where the people own the wind together. I know no clearer proof that energy can be democratic.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Sara TurettaCernavodă, Romania“Sara Turetta decided, before turning 30, that she would devote her life to helping animals. She left her job in advertising after a trip to Romania that had shaken her deeply, opening her eyes to the tragedy of stray animals beyond any control and the brutality with which dogs were treated. She then founded Save the dogs and other animals, a foundation active in Italy and Romania, dedicated to rescuing dogs and other animals from the violence of a world that treats them as invisible. Her love for animals turned into concrete action. Her work is immense and unrelenting, and it allows thousands of dogs and other animals to escape a horrific fate.”Recommended by Ilaria Gaspari
• Schumacher CollegeDartington, UK“A school that lives what it teaches, grows its own food and decides together. That is education I believe in.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Senseable City Lab (MIT)Cambridge, USA“Carlo Ratti reads the city as a living organism. His work helps us see ourselves inside it.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Shinichiro OgataTokyo, Japan“Ogata carries Japanese tradition into the present, with a care you can see in everything he makes.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Shorefast Foundation / Fogo Island InnFogo island, Canada“Zita Cobb came home. She turned hospitality into a way of keeping her island alive.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Skate AnimaCuritiba, Brazil“Kids with cerebral palsy get the real thrill of a skateboard. Joy, organised.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Slow Food Foundation for BiodiversityBra, Italy“Carlo Petrini reminded us that eating well is a pleasure, and one to defend everywhere.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• SOLshareDhaka, Bangladesh“Neighbours share their solar power, and clean energy reaches the poorest. That was the point all along.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Songhaï CenterPorto-Novo, BeninRecommended by JJ Hazoumé
• Studio Other SpacesBerlin, Germany“Eliasson and Behmann make spaces that ask you to feel where you stand in nature.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Studio RoosegaardeRotterdam, Netherlands“Daan turns technology into a conversation about the world we want.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Sweet OmLamentin (Guadeloupe), France“Therese grows wellbeing out of a Creole garden. The care in it is real.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Sylvio RuizBogotá, ColombiaRecommended by Simon Bernard
• Taisugar Circular VillageTaisugar, Taiwan“A village designed so that materials keep circulating. A calm, livable picture of the circular economy.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Tetsunari IidaTokyo, JapanRecommended by Søren Hermansen
• The Child MovementGreater Noida, India“Licypriya started at eight. She carries the voice of her generation, and with force.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• The Emergence NetworkChennai, India“Bayo gives me permission to slow down and sit with a question, rather than rush to fix it.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Transition NetworkTotnes, UK“Rob taught me that imagining the future is a tool in itself, and the climate transition needs it.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Union United Church Food BankMontreal, CanadaRecommended by JJ Hazoumé
• Urban TilthRichmond, California, USARecommended by Rob Hopkins
• Ursula HirschmannBrussels, Belgium“Because she co-authored the Ventotene Manifesto’s vision of European federalism while herself stateless, and because she demonstrated that building transnational democracy requires both intellectual courage and practical organizing across borders.”Recommended by Alberto Alemanno
• V CycleHong Kong, ChinaRecommended by Simon Bernard
• Valldaura Self-Sufficient LabsBarcelona, Spain“A forest that is the resource, the classroom and the curriculum at once. My idea of a good lab.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Village AlzheimerDax, France“People with Alzheimer's keep an ordinary life, with a real shop and a bistro. Deeply humane.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Visionary Co.Nagoya, Japan“They turn a demographic constraint into an opportunity. Physical strength as a vocation, with the stigma taken off it.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Wanjira MathaiNairobi, Kenya“She carries the Green Belt Movement forward while shaping climate policy for the continent. With her, the link between restored land and restored dignity becomes obvious.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• We Are SistaParis, France“Tatiana and her collective turned the gender funding gap into a movement, then built the fund to close it.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Why KamikatsuKamikatsu, Japan“A town that sorts its waste into 45 streams. The hard part was the culture, and they did it.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• WindcoopLorient, FranceRecommended by Simon Bernard
• World Access for the BlindLos Angeles, USA“Daniel taught himself to see with sound, and now he teaches thousands. It changes what we think a person can learn.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume