We originally applied for Youth Accreditation status to ensure the continuation and quality of our youth mobility projects and the societal benefits that come as a direct result. The positive impact of these projects on local, regional, national, and international level provides: • Stronger international cooperation between youth circus workers and organisations in Europe through the sharing of practices and knowledge • A greater awareness of circus arts as a powerful tool for youth work and social change • Promotes cultural understanding between young people from diverse backgrounds • Provides opportunity for young people to explore and expand their identities as active European citizens through an exciting and accessible art form The primary goal for our Youth Accredited activity is to promote understanding of differences between young people from different cultures and different socioeconomic backgrounds. and to highlight active citizenship from the point of view of culture and physical and mental wellbeing. The continuing societal challenges our activities aim to address is the ever-increasing need for solidarity, cultural diversity, active citizenship, and a healthier lifestyle to promote mental wellness in our young people. A critical step to ensure that we meet our goal and address this need is to continually strengthen the European Youth and Social Circus sector by providing professional development opportunities for individuals and organisations that allow them to expand their knowledge and upskill their practice. This results in increased quality and quantity of activities available to young people on a European level that promote improved physical and mental wellbeing, solidarity and active participation. Because of this, the goals for our first cycle of youth-accredited activities focused around Professional Development activities for Youth Workers. In subsequent years, we will place stronger focus on the direct engagement and participation of young people through adding Youth Exchange activities into the programme. Our goals for this first cycle were to: • Increasing the quality the of youth and social circus sector on a European level through Youth Worker Mobilities and trainings, resulting in access to higher quality programmes for a larger number of young people across Europe • Providing opportunities for young people to meet and exchange with people from other countries and backgrounds, promoting cultural understanding and active youth participation • Sharing knowledge and practices between youth and social circus organisations of different sizes and from diverse contexts across Europe to build capacity, increase competences and strengthen networks for future work Our activities are all underpinned by the following 4 objectives: DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION – supporting young people from all backgrounds with access to circus and a local, national and international level while imparting cultural awareness, active European citizenship and best practice through our work ACTIVE YOUTH PARTICIPATION – providing platforms for young people’s unique, capable and independent direction, fostering a culture of learning and leadership in the young people participating YOUTH ARTS AND CREATIVITY – providing opportunities for young people from all backgrounds to participate and experiment together through a creative activity (circus arts) that has been proven to increase both physical and mental wellbeing in young people THINK GLOBAL, ACT LOCAL – supporting other national and international Youth and Social Circus schools to learn from each other by sharing knowledge and best practices through collaborative artform development activities (such as Training-for-Trainers programmes and networking events), leading to a strengthened international network for the European Youth and Social Circus sector.