Our main motivation was to provide young people with the opportunity to fulfill their stated needs and interests for personal development by empowering them through building knowledge, skills and competencies for civic engagement, thereby contributing to the social development of their own community and society as a whole. That is why we started with a youth exchange in which they were the main actors to identify the needs of young people in their local communities and then later implemented another youth exchange with one of the topics more highlighted: mental health. “Youth Go Local” (YGL) project brought young people to Croatia to work together on youth initiatives. The main goal of this project was to bring 32 young people and 6 group leaders from 6 different countries and encourage them to research and create youth initiatives in their local communities. The participants learned how to search for and locate needs through exploring the local community. The intention was to sensitize them to the current state of their communities and to boost their civic engagement. Thus fostering social engagement and active participation of the young people involved in this project. The goal of YGL was achieved in three phases: 1. researched about the local community needs to improve social life. 2. shared tools and methods to write successful proposals and offer solutions to the identified needs. 3. developed initiatives to be applied for in the next calls for funds, whether European, local, or any other type. The objectives of YGL were: - Gather 32 young people and 6 group leaders (+2 facilitators) from different backgrounds to promote cultural diversity, giving them the opportunity to learn about other cultures while living and working in mixed nationalities. - Through researching techniques, raise awareness about the state of social life in the communities of the region where they are coming from. - Offer the opportunity to young people to create their own projects linked to their needs through teaching them how to recognize local problems and giving them tools to create small actions and initiatives. - Provide a space to prepare project proposals in a local context while pursuing an international vision that will be applied for in the next call of E+ and/or ESC. “Moving for Mental Health” (MoMe) brought young people to Croatia to work together in mental health through dancing and sports. The main goal of this project was to bring 38 young people and 6 group leaders (+2 facilitators) from 6 different countries to inspire each other with methods for improving their personal well being and share them in their local communities. The goal was to raise their awareness about the current state of mental health in their communities and boost their emotional and physical state through learning how to use their body more effectively and creatively. This fostered social engagement and active participation of the young people involved in this project.