In this project, we put a lot of emphasis on getting to know the culture of each country using techniques and methods intended to improve self-esteem and increase independence of our project participants. This is meant to address the key objective of promoting diversity, international dialogue and tolerance between nations. As in all of our youth exchange programs we worked on improving language skills. This wasn't only to improve their chances of excelling in this subject in school but will give them the chance to become more and more engaged in EU programs and opportunities. Additionally, our experience has shown that creating friendships from different countries increases self-esteem as well. To this day, youth from Poland maintains contact with people they met during the trip and a smaller group is planning a small reunion in Italy in June of this year. The low self-esteem we are observing is a direct result of feeling marginalized as a social group. There are many stereotypes about teenagers growing up without their biological families, living in institutional care and experiencing other forms of social and geographical exclusion. In keeping with the objectives of the Erasmus+ Programme we believe that this project was a good setting for working on inclusion and diversity. Our youth have often voiced a concern that they feel stigmatized simply because they are living in foster care. This project gave them the opportunity to exchange experiences with youth their own age but in an entirely different cultural setting and using a medium that they feel very comfortable with. In this way our Independence by Culture project aimed to reach marginalized youth in accordance to the key action objectives. We also encouraged our youth to plan activities that have high educational value and let them learn outside of the classroom. Most participants would never be able to afford or organize such a trip on their own. Our experience has shown that taking part in international projects, though difficult at first since it requires leaving their comfort zone, usually leads to a significant increase in self-esteem. This was also out first project where we were able to delegate many of the organizational and logistical aspects to out youth leaders increasing their engagement and improving their project planning skills. Having trainer professionals - trainers, educators, psychologists – to their disposal during these trips gives them a much needed feeling of safety that allows them to explore new skills and talents. During the "Independence by Culture" Project we focused on the following key objectives: 1. Obtaining a deeper cultural awareness and exploring cultural diversity; 2. Strengthening language skills which will allow project participants to become active members of the EU community and seek other international project opportunities; 3. Strengthening social dialogue on the issues of social inclusion and tolerance; 4. Increasing self-esteem; 5. Increased awareness of psychological mechanisms behind prejudice and discrimination of out-groups; 6. Gaining skills necessary to become more independent and self-sufficient in adult life; 7. Building confidence, self-worth, sense of initiative and responsibility for one's actions; 8. Building international bonds with peer youth from other countries that they can later try to maintain connections through other projects; 9. Gaining a deeper understanding of one's heritage and the importance of sharing it with other nations; 10. Strengthening ties with the home organizations.