The EVS-project "Spielend leben lernen" intends to facilitate the 12-months European Voluntary Service by a 29-year-old young woman from Croatia to take place in the host organisation Aktivspieplatz Raitelsberg e.V. (AKI) in Stuttgart. AKI is a non-profit organisation for non-formal learning for children and young people, located in the borough of Raitelsberg, which is characterized by exclusively consisting of social housing. The AKI aims at providing a place for playing and social learning to these children and young people, who have very varied cultural, religious and social backgrounds, and by doing so, offering them an alternative to the streets and the often problematic situations at home. AKI provides opportunities to young people for playfully learning and acquiring social skills as well as strategies for non-violent conflict solution.The volunteers at AKI are part of the team, support the project staff, take part in activities and gain experience in working with pedagogical concepts. They are welcome to work on own projects and initiatives, mainly in the after-school offers for the children and young people, who are marginalised due to their social status and their family and economic backgrounds. The volunteers at AKI experience the everyday effects of societal issues such as social exclusion, poverty and migration. They gain experience in the practical implementation of educational methods and concepts, and gain insight into the variety of German realities, such as the contradiction between the relatively rich city of Stuttgart and the very different socio-economic backgrounds of the visitors.Through the daily contact with the EVS volunteers, as young people with different cultural and linguistic backgrounds, the children and youths vice versa also gain insight into the variety of European cultures. They are becoming aware of the value of volunteering for society and the many possibilities for themselves to engage in voluntary service or other forms of non-formal learning. The host organisation AKI particularly welcomes such multiplier effects, as they enrich their pedagogical work and trigger the personal development of their visitors.