This project falls into an ongoing collaboration between different international socio-cultural spaces that started in 2015 in Kremenchuk, Ukraine. Toestand, a Brussels-based non-profit, is a socio-cultural organization that focuses on the revitalisation of abandoned buildings, creating projects that show how these unutilized spaces can become non-commercial meeting areas for citizens most in need for them, with a particular focus on young people. Since 2015, Toestand has traveled to a foreign country every summer and collaborated with a group of local youngsters to find an empty building and convert it into the youth center that they need, by arriving with a group of volunteers and working non-stop for 10 days. These volunteers are not professionals, but passionate young people that believe they can create the opportunities and places they need themselves. Every year, the group gets bigger as the previous edition’s participants join to share their experience with a new group. With the exception of Kremenchuk, Ukraine (2015) and Granada, Spain (2017), the project has focused on creating space in the Western Balkans, both due to the need for community- and youth-oriented spaces here, as well as organically: through the success of one space, young people in neighboring countries with similar cultural backgrounds and histories learn of the project and want to create something similar (but adapted to their city) for themselves. The primary and most tangible objective of the project was to build a new community and autonomous socio-cultural center with, by and for the young people of Podgorica. Through the success of the project in Sarajevo in 2021, a connection was quickly made with a group of motivated young people in Podgorica, which in the months prior to the project grew into a collective that would both facilitate the project, help to renovate the space and afterwards establish a collaborative and open governance of the socio-cultural center that was created, which they named ‘DKC Pomorandža’. Apart from this first objective, the process (for the participants) during the project is just as important. For this we identify five central objectives: TO PRACTICE COLLECTIVITY - Participants wanted to organise a project collectively without drifting off into classic time-consuming and non-action based 'participation procedures'. We wanted to experiment with ways of deciding and achieving goals together. We wanted to give everyone the opportunity to engage in participatory decision making. TO BUILD A FOUNDATIONAL HUMAN CONNECTION - A strong team is one where the members enjoy understanding one another, and enjoy each others’ presence. Through the exchange we wanted to explore opportunities to share knowledge, have discussions and learn different skills from each other. By building relationships, we would prevent the rise of future conflict or misunderstandings, and easing our way into collaboration. TO BUILD KNOWLEDGE - We wanted to offer volunteers learning opportunities during the project. Participants wanted to learn at a project management level (making decisions and implementing them, ...) at a practical level (wood or metal working, taking pictures, ...) and at an interpersonal level (skills and knowledge transfer from other groups). TO HAVE A CULTURAL EXCHANGE - Driven by positive previous experiences, we wanted to give the participants a window to different cultures. Participants would get the opportunity to develop an international network, practice solidarity, and actively engage in supporting initiatives for inclusive and participatory organizations of spaces for youth. Participants would be provided with the opportunity to bring about a tangible difference, a real long-term impact by participating in a short-term project with long-lasting consequences. TO ENGAGE PEOPLE - Participants wanted to involve (new) people in the organisation during the preparatory year and afterwards. Participants wanted to attain ownership over (a partial aspect of) the organization and the project. We believe in the positive group dynamic effect of an international project, and can say that since the past projects, the number of engaged youth has grown and the network has expanded to include many more youth. TO HAVE FUN - Informal moments during the exchange would serve to support the group dynamics and the internal cohesion. Having fun is crucial to any project as it prevents the members from getting burned out and sustains the levels of overall engagement.