The foundation of Geopolitical Board was the empirical finding that young people were largely misinformed and uninterested in geopolitical issues or other aspects of civic engagement. The idea behind this project was to counteract the growing disinformation and lack of interest. Our goal was to pique youth interest in geopolitical issues and equip them with information analysis skills to counteract fake news and disinformation. Written by a young volunteer, who participated in the project, Pedro Carvalho, he said “This project arises from my experience in participating in Erasmus+ projects and the knowledge I gained in them. As a student of Political Science and International Relations, I am a young man deeply interested in political issues and active citizenship, and in the projects, I participated in, I noticed, several times, among my peers a great deal of lack of information on geopolitical issues in everyday life.” Since Fundão is an area of Portugal that faces serious problems of rural youth exodus, where the young population in the region represents an increasingly smaller portion, the Geopolitical Board was extremely beneficial for our region. Due to the project's expectation of young people from various nationalities, the area benefitted from increased economic growth as well as increased intercultural interaction with the local population. Thirty young people participated in this youth exchange, six from each of the four participating countries—Portugal, Spain, Greece, and Poland (the Irish partner Crooked House withdrew his partnership). The purpose of selecting participants from these European nations was to gather information about civic engagement. While youth disinterest in politics and civic issues is a common phenomenon across the European Union, some countries have more encouraging data than others when it comes to youth civic participation. Portugal, for instance, has a much lower rate of youth voting participation; according to EuroStat, just 22,6% of youth between the ages of 18 and 24 cast ballots in the 2019 legislative elections. However, Spain's values at the same age were 53,5%, higher than the average for all of Europe, which is 35,6%. The following are the levels of youth participation in civil organizations (aged 15 to 29) not only in terms of electoral participation but also in terms of civic participation indicators: According to the Eurobarometer, Portugal, Greece, and Spain have low levels of 8%, 6%, and 6.6%, respectively. Poland, on the other hand, had participation rates of 15%. In addition to helping the participants learn and share knowledge about various realities, Geopolitical Board emphasyzed on promoting active citizenship was very helpful in raising these values. An autonomous method of raising civic awareness through mutual cohabitation was to rely on the participation of individuals from high and low participation rate countries. Objectives: - Connecting youth with the basics of Geopolitics and Peacekeeping, through the development of research, literacy, and communication skills that will enable young people to become acquainted with the most complex geopolitical topics; - Increase awareness of the impact of geopolitical actions and decision-making on both individuals and communities, particularly in the context of today's globalizing world; - Increase understanding and engagement with global politics and International Relations among youth, by simplifying and demystifying complex geopolitical concepts, issues, and language ; - Promote engagement in the youth rights debate and emphasize the role of young people in the peacebuilding process, creating a skilled and civic-minded youth who can act in their political and civic life and who can promote and defend their own rights; - Encourage and equip young people with the necessary resources and knowledges to become active citizens, agents of solidarity and positive change inspired by EU values and European identity; - Connect young people from different backgrounds and countries to listen to and appreciate each others' ideas and experiences, endorsing intercultural understanding, democracy, respect, diversity, human rights, active citizenship, and solidarity; - Organize an Intercultural Fair in Fundão in cooperation with the mixIN project (from Fundão Center for Migrations) where participants will have contact and share their culture with individuals in refugee situations and the local community.