#IDEA AND NEEDS According to the United Nations (UN), “(…) young people are a major human resource for development and key agents for social change, economic growth and technological innovation. Participation in decision-making is a key priority area of the UN agenda on youth.” By being involved in decision-making processes, young people (1) acquire a greater ability to look around them, identify challenges and take entrepreneurial action to resolve them and (2) make their voice heard, they mark their position and are agents of influence in decision-making on the policies/programs that influence their social experience. Indeed, in addition to the double benefit for young people, the community benefits from the presence of young people who are more aware of their environment, more entrepreneurial and more active in the search for solutions. However, there is still a disconnection between young people, institutions and decision-makers - “it is still a concern that many young people feel disconnected from our democratic structures and institutions (…)” (Youth Participation Strategy). Distanced language, complex concepts, little information, among other factors, encourage the inability to create a structured dialogue between the parties. Added to these is the lack of innovation and creativity in the work that is done with and for young people, as well as the stagnation in traditional methods of youth activation and awareness. That said, we identify as a starting social problem the disconnection between young people and institutions and decision-making agents. After this identification, and as ESN PT is an organization with evident proximity to young people and with concerns about the social and civic participation of our groups, we detected the need, as an organization, to promote “alternative forms” of youth participation, contributing to, first, decomplex concepts and, second, inform, raise awareness and create conditions for the conscious and empowered involvement of young people. To this end, we developed the ATI(TU)DE PARTICIPATIVE project as an opportunity of excellence for young people to have access to opportunities for social and civic participation, facilitated and inclusive, innovative and appealing, through non-formal dynamics of sharing ideas, building knowledge, brainstorming, debates and dialogue with political decision-makers. Added to the needs of our organization were the needs of young people (both project participants and young people in general). These were detected during our work with the youth group, through listening and collecting feedback, and compared with national and transnational data. Need for: -Understand their role in society and, above all, understand how they can exercise it; -Access social and civic participation opportunities tailored to you and your colleagues; -Obtain information and access methods of social and civic participation that include new forms of participation, such as digital; -Create a network and dialogue with decision makers, in order to break down existing barriers and facilitate their involvement. These needs took on greater proportions when we found that, in the youth group, there were young people in situations of fewer opportunities (MO) who, undoubtedly, were at a disadvantage compared to their peers. It was essential to create opportunities for these young people to share their obstacles and visualize ways to mitigate them, together with their peers, institutions and decision-makers, making them an active and empowered part of social change. #OBJECTIVES We can only guarantee actions responsive to these needs by defining key objectives, in SMART logic: 1.General -Promote opportunities for social and civic participation among young people through new “alternative” and non-formal forms of participation. 2.Specifics -Foster the development of key skills for lifelong learning among young people to reinforce their capacity for participation and social and civic involvement; -Create quality learning and social engagement opportunities in order to empower, inform, raise awareness and activate young people for greater social and civic participation; -Raise young people’s awareness of European social values and encourage their adoption; -Promote dialogue between young people and institutions and decision-makers; -Train young people on current strategies and priorities in youth that aim, as a whole, to empower, involve and connect young people with each other and with society's institutions and agents, including those with decision-making power.