The various associations had already participated in and/or organised at least one youth exchange and wanted to improve their practices by sharing their questions, thoughts and approaches, while discovering new tools. The aim was to provide an opportunity for training, the exchange of good practices and tools, and to build and/or strengthen new partnerships with a view to future projects. The participants had also expressed a desire to share and disseminate the results of their meetings and exchanges with other local partners, as well as with newcomers. Although everyone had some experience with the administrative aspects of the application form and technical elements such as budgetary issues, the mobility tool and the beneficiary module, it was decided to take the time to make a few updates. However, the primary aim of the training was mainly to address qualitative aspects, such as active participation, intercultural learning, evaluation, impacts, etc. These dedicated sessions enabled the associations to give new meaning to the organisation of youth exchanges, moving beyond the sometimes mechanical nature of certain practices and reaffirming exchanges as genuine tools for the empowerment of young people. Fundamental questions were addressed, such as: - ‘What is a quality international youth exchange?’ - ‘How can we strengthen youth participation?’ - ‘How can we involve them actively from the beginning to the end of the project?’ - ‘Who takes the initiative?’ - ‘How are decisions made?’ - ‘What is the deeper meaning of culture and interculturality in a youth exchange?’ - ‘What do impacts mean and how can they be measured?’ - ‘How can local partners be more involved?’ Participants attempted to answer these questions by sharing their experiences and putting them into perspective with certain theoretical approaches. The project also provided an opportunity to take stock of new opportunities, such as the online language learning system offered by the EU Academy platform. Indeed, the language barrier remains a major obstacle to the participation of many young people in international exchanges. The idea was to bring together youth workers from a variety of cultural and professional backgrounds, with different experiences of youth exchanges (within the framework of Erasmus+ but not only), for a week to discuss how to improve the quality of their projects and question their practices. There were five objectives: - To develop knowledge and skills, particularly regarding the qualitative aspects of a youth exchange project (without neglecting certain technical aspects such as the application form or funding agreements); - To give youth workers a better understanding of their role in supporting groups; - To propose concrete tools, particularly around Youthpass and intercultural learning, and enable their experimentation; - To deepen understanding of the meaning and philosophy of youth exchanges within the Erasmus+ programme; - To develop new projects incorporating the reflections arising from the collective work. This training ultimately provided a breather in the daily routine of the associations, a time to rethink practices, give new meaning to actions, and link daily activities to the fundamental missions of youth exchanges. An important tool was made available to participants: a Dropbox containing the materials used during the project, as well as a selection of books, brochures, articles and magazines.