October 16, 2026 – We are pleased to announce that the Monitoring Committee of the Interreg Danube Region Programme has approved our new project, NONA LEAP – Shaping New Leaders for Active Participation of Civil Society in Building Resilient Communities, in which Iskriva Institute participates as a project partner. Led by the Geodetic Institute of Slovenia, the project brings together 15 project partners and 23 associated strategic partners from 12 countries and is expected to start on 1 December 2026.
NONA LEAP aims to empower people who want to make a difference in their communities. By bringing together local authorities, young people and civil society organisations, the project will help communities identify their needs, develop shared solutions and turn ideas into action. At the heart of the project is the NONA LEAP Platform, a transnational incubator for emerging leaders connecting 11 city governments with more than 60 NGOs and civil society networks representing over 200,000 members. The approach will be tested in 11 cities: the metropolitan areas of Stuttgart, Sofia and Chișinău; the medium-sized cities of Veszprém, Šabac, Žepče, Varaždin and Bistrița; and the small border towns of Ravne na Koroškem, Virovitica and Reni. Institute Iskriva will lead the pilot in Ravne na Koroškem, helping put the project’s approach into practice in a local context. Lessons from the pilot cities will inform three policy dialogue events, including engagement with the European Commission, as well as a youth lab, helping connect local experience with broader policy development.
NONA LEAP builds on NONA – New Governance for New Spaces, an Interreg Danube Region project that ran until June 2026 and developed tools for participatory planning and identifying green investment opportunities. While the previous project focused on planning and investment potential, NONA LEAP shifts the focus to the people and organisations needed to turn plans into action. It will further develop the NONA Community of Practitioners and Investors and build on the NONA Academy, evolving its Leadership Programme into a new programme to support emerging leaders and strengthen civil society participation.
The approval marks another important step in strengthening Iskriva’s international presence and expanding opportunities for cooperation across the Danube Region. It also highlights the contribution of Slovenian expertise to transnational efforts to build more resilient, inclusive and participatory communities.
NONA LEAP is co-funded by the European Union through the Interreg Danube Region Programme.
