"Below 10" is a three-year project promoted by a Partnership of nine Organisations in six different EU countries. The Partners comprise schools and school networks, NGOs, and University research centers. It aims to address the challenge of early school leaving (ESL) by focusing on an approach aimed at the prevention, through new pedagogical strategies for co - operation and strategic planning between actors of formal and informal education, between school and local community. Taking as term of reference the statistical data for 2013, stating that 12 % of young people aged 18 - 24 in the EU are Early School Leavers, the title of our project recall the objective of "Europe 2020": reducing such rate below the 10%. ESL is a tragic phenomenon for young people because it can lead to social and economic exclusion, low employability, low self - confidence and often deviance. ESL is a tragedy from both the social point of view since in a modern democracy, responsible and active citizenship requires high levels of education ; and it is also a problem for economic development because it depletes the "human capital" necessary for the "Knowledge Economy". The international scientific community agrees that ESL has a systemic nature. Starting from this concept, our project aims at developing transversal and multi - disciplinary solutions and methods so as to develop the skills which both schools and informal education actors need to work together; and to introduce didactic methods oriented to re - motivating all students, included those more disadvantaged; and to develop local strategic medium and long term plans to prevent and counteract ESL. Notably our project intends to achieve the above mentioned objectives through the realisation of two Intellectual Outputs:1. a social qualitative research of drop - out aspects and causes in the Partners' countries that can be considered paradigmatic of the generality of European contexts;2. a model of training and participative co - project planning based on an Action / Research approach to problem-solving and which allows and enables the local actors to study ESL in their territory, to innovate learning systems and to elaborate together a local integrated plans of action. Such plans will be developed through:- an initial phase of local workshops for joined training of "first level stakeholders" (teachers, professional educators, volunteers and social workers);- a second phase of practical work, i. e. implementation of what has been learnt and projected during the workshops: so pilot - experiences developed by the participants to the workshop with young people, inside and outside the schools (not only with young drop - out, but also those that can be a positive example for peers de-motivated or border - line);- a conclusive phase during which the "second level stakeholders" come back for further training to reflect on the lessons learnt by working with young people, and propose to "first level stakeholders" (principles, headmasters, local institutions representatives, CSOs manager) local and multi-annual integrated plans to prevent and reduce ESL. As for expected results, our project purposes are:to update the frame of knowledge on ESL and drop-out causes, in order to reach more effective policies and practices;to create or enhance local networks among schools, local institutions and associations involved in the work with and for young people;to elaborate Local Integrated Plans against ESL;to spread innovative methods both in formal and informal education;to empower and increase school success for disadvantaged young people involved in the pilot - experiences. The long - term expected results and impact are:- to enhance the capacity of formal and informal education systems to work together by planning objectives, methods and action tools. - to optimize the use of financial resources, towards a new "education community welfare system"- to contribute at the definition of more effective policies against ESL - at national and European level - in order to meet the objective of "below 10%" as more as possible in all the EU countries.