With this training course we wanted to contribute to the quality of projects, training courses and seminars on any topic by working out ways to approach Europe, exchange ideas on projects that deal/imply European issues and on how to make an impact – and to enable youngsters to have a say - in the ongoing European integration processes. Main objectives of this training course are: • pointing out the connection between citizenship, responsibility for one‘s immediate environment and society and active participation, • experiencing, discussing and sharing historical and recent understandings of citizenship and its implications for participati on, • approaching different levels of citizenship (local – national – international/European) in practice by simulations, cases and methods development, • reflecting on the notion of European identity and its underlying values (democracy, tolerance, plurality, human rights), • raising the quality of projects dealing with youth participation and citizenship. More precisely, set ourselves a threefold needs: 1. Connecting the local, national and European dimensions of citizenship. We depart from a shared observation: local participation occurs largely in isolated realms. Active youngsters often find it hard to connect their respective activities and commitment to the larger context within which they take place. In this manner, the national and the European context of active citizenship often tend to be left out in projects that strive for the improvement of local communities. Thus, the aim of YWOC – connecting participation on the local level with an understanding of national and European citizenship – is highly relevant. 2. Adding value to non-formal civic education. During our programme we will be 'trying out‘ methods in civic education. Although the programme is aimed at active youth workers/trainers, we will be going through a 'regular‘ programme. The difference between a 'regular‘ training course and our approach, however, lies in discussion of the aims of the unit, the execution of the method and an evaluation of its potentials and pitfalls. Thus, during YWOC we will assemble, try out and evaluate a number of methods. We opened up the stage for our participants to introduce methods they have successfully implemented themselves and discussed new ideas. In this manner, we aimed to be open for suggestions during the programme and depart from the concrete needs of people involved in youth work. 3. Developing Skills. During the course of YWOC we were open for the creative contributions of our participants. In particular, we examined relevant methods and ideas for their benefit of suitably approaching citizenship, and the arising notions of responsibility and participation. At the same time, however, we aimed at a dissemination of established and reliable methods in civic education.