A European Journey through Youth Participation" is an international job shadowing that will be implemented to explore meaningful approaches to youth participation and innovative youth policies promoted in Italy and Portugal as well as their vital connections to EU recommendations and best practices shared during international mobilities. This project is planned to be the first step of a longer commitment from Gianluca to invest his effort, future studies and acquired competences in Italy, with a focus in Piedmont, and at European level, to research, evaluate, improve and contribute to innovative youth policies, stimulating young people's active participation in their glocal dimension (a local impact with a global vision) and supporting stronger connections and youth networks in order to guarantee safe and inclusive space for youth involvement. The main aims of Gianluca's job shadowing are: - to learn from DYPALL's daily work how to conduct effective researches on the topic of YP - to explore the key elements of current youth policies in Italy and Portugal and highlight criticisms, best practices and preparare a brief research on them - to improve Gianluca's competences in terms of project management, data collection and analysis, facilitation of new local forms of participation - to prepare a final report and a booklet that contains the knowledge acquired, the technical key factors capted for innovative youth policies at local and international level, impressions and data from virtuos examples of youth participation at local level both in Italy and Portugal (youth councils, forums, co-management approaches, youth-led organisations) - to follow-up these researches with further activities in cooperation with DYPALL, Eufemia, Piedmont Region and the University of Turin This project has direct references to crucial objectives of the Erasmu+ program including European cooperation in the youth field, in order to support young people personal and professional development. We seek to combine formal, non-formal and informal learning throughout education, training and youth fields developing engaging strategies to offer young people concrete opportunities to improve their professional skills, teamwork, self-development and soft skills in general. The actions supported under this Key Action are expected to bring positive and long-lasting effects on the participants and participating organisations involved, as well as on the policy systems in which such activities are framed. The project meets the needs and the objetives of Associazione Eufemia through the professional competences Gianluca will improve during his shadowing and meets the objectives of DYPALL by receiving and working on proposals and suggestions for future international projects targeting youth participation and innovation in the policy field from Gianluca and his national contacts. Indeed, we have planned this project to start a long-term process of research on the current Italian youth policy situation and to multiply the tools and mechanisms of democratic youth participation that have been developed in previous international activities and that are already operative in Portugal. The specific objectives of the job shadowing activity are: - the collection of valid data, useful material and on-site impressions of the underlined topics - the improvement of Gianluca’s skills related to project management, research and evaluation of implemented strategies in the youth sector that will be very useful for the work Associazione EUfemia as “sending organisation” - the opportunity of working together with a diverse and experience team that is managing different international projects and network activities related to a meaningful youth participation in the decision making processes - the increased concrete conditions to support Gianluca’s personal and professional growth of a young leader determined to have a concrete impact at local, regional and European level supporting young people learning path.