Who are we?

INST is an international network of various organisations and providers of social tours. The two-hours tours in the cities are carried out by non-profit organizations or social companies. The INST founding members have informed around 90,000 participants on thousands of tours about the consequences of poverty. Together, the tour providers networked with over 100 social institutions and provided around 100 tour guides with a wage and new perspectives on life. The vision of INST is to expand the network of tour providers and to enable many tour guides to participate in society. A shared goal is to raise social awareness about the exclusion of people affected by poverty.

Executive Board and Management

  • Paola Gallo: President INST
  • Isabella Reinhard: Treasurer INST, Project Manager Supertramps, Vienna
  • Jannice Vierkötter: Managing Director Surprise, Basel
  • Zakia Moulaoui: Managing Director and Founder Invisible Cities Edinburgh, Manchester and Glasgow
  • Chris Alefantis: Founder of Invisible Tours and street paper Shedia, Athens
  • Sybille Roter: Managing Director INST und Project Manager of Social Tours, Surprise, Basel

Founding Members

INST founding members are providers of social tours from Athens, Basel, Edinburgh, Vienna and private individuals:

Jannice Vierkötter
Jannice VierkötterManaging Director Surprise, Basel
“The empowerment of the tour guides is at the focus of INST’s work: Their knowledge, resources and experiences are recognized, supported and made visible and understandable for the society through the trainings and the exchange among each other.”
Sybille Roter
Sybille RoterManaging Director INST, Basel
“The direct exchange between the providers of the tours or the guides is an invaluable experience. Together we can promote the important social awareness of social issues such as poverty and homelessness.”
Zakia Moulaoui
Zakia MoulaouiCEO and founder of Invisible Cities in Edinburgh, Manchester and Glasgow
“Being able to share with other projects our experience as well as learn from them is the best thing we can do to grow and be better. Together we are a lot stronger.”
Chris Alefantis
Chris Alefantis Founder of Invisible Tours and street paper Shedia, Athens
“Working together, developing synergies, exchanging ideas, sharing our visions, our work, our challenges, our successes, our failures are all crucial in our common goal to end poverty and social exclusion, to make the world a fair place for all.”
Paola Gallo
Paola Gallo President INST, Basel
“Be the change you want to see in the society. With the tours and the network we show the impact of poverty – and how changes are possible through new social visions.”
Isabella Reinhard
Isabella ReinhardProject Manager SUPERTRAMPS Vienna, Treasurer INST
“Every city has different facets of homelessness and poverty. With our tours we not only try to raise awareness on important social issues but ultimately want to support our guides in their personal development. INST is a unique platform that allows our tour guides and our project team to grow by learning from others”.