There are a number of overarching aims that WSTCYS has as a Youth Organization working with young people in Ireland - our focus was to integrate European Youth Work (Mobilities, Trainings and Dialogues) into our operations across Waterford City and County, and South Tipperary, as part of our plans to achieve the following aims in all of these areas: A. Strengthening the personal and professional development of young people and youth workers through youth work. Developing quality youth work through developing the skills, experience and competencies of our staff, volunteers and participants. B. Connecting, engaging and empowering young people - ensuring that they have space, voice, audience and influence in and on their lives and societies. C. Developing the participation and critical social education of young people in society, and therefore improving democratic life. D. Improving social inclusion, solidarity and social cohesion through a focus on equity and human rights. The EU Youth Strategy of 'Engage, Connect and Empower' aligns really well with the aims of WSTCYS. WSTCYS is using the Erasmus+ Programme to support the delivery of our aims, which are closely aligned with the EU Youth Goals. Underpinning the specific WSTCYS aims are a number of the Youth Goals from the 6th cycle of the EU Youth Dialogue process, namely: Goal 1 - Connecting EU with Youth Goal 2 - Equality of all Genders Goal 3 - Inclusive Societies Goal 5 - Mental Health and Wellbeing Goal 6 - Moving Rural Youth Forward Goal 7 - Quality Employment for all Goal 8 - Quality Learning Goal 9 - Space and Participation for All Goal 11 - Youth Organizations and Youth Programmes. WSTCYS had 3 clear objectives when we applied for Accreditation, designed to support these aims including improving Youth Employability Skills with young people through integrating Youth Exchanges with the PATHWAYS Youth Employability Programme. Unfortunately, due to reasons beyond our control, the Pathways Programme came to a premature end, and in January 2025, we changed one of the objectives in our Activity Plan to include more nature-based work with young people. Our current 3 objectives are: 1. Core skills development across a wide range of Youth Projects. Of central importance in Youth Work is the development of core skills - what have previously been called soft or social skills. These core skills underpin and enable the development of more targeted skills which can support young people to grow and develop and become participants in civic society. Our experiences tell us that participants develop skills such as working in small groups, teamwork, planning and problem-solving, interpersonal skills and relationship-building, through working with youth workers to put on Youth Exchanges. Youth Exchanges also allow an element of travel and adventure and risk and excitement through the process of 'entering the unknown'. We have found that young people want stories and adventures that give meaning and purpose to their lives, and that Youth Exchanges are fabulous at enriching the fabric of young people's lives. 2. Staff and Volunteer Development, especially in the areas of Training and Continuing Professional Development. WSTCYS has been running a Training Course about Social Inclusion and Authentic Leadership over the past few years, and the success of much of our European Youth Work can be traced back to these Courses. We have built capabilities and contacts through this Course, especially in our younger staff, who have found the Course particularly beneficial. Our objective was to build on this strength and put on more Training Courses at our base in Woodstown. In our world there are statutory Trainings (e.g., First Aid etc.) and necessary Trainings (e.g., Anxiety workshops etc.), but our aim for the Trainings that we are running at Woodstown is to put on residential, thematic Trainings that allow participants to explore areas of interest in a deeper way, with colleagues from Ireland but also from across Europe. For example, in the areas of Social Inclusion, Creative Methodologies, Nature, the Green Agenda and Employability. 3. Developing Nature Based Youth Work. WSTCYS is moving closer to nature as a means of reducing anxiety in young people, as a direct result of learnings from our Pathways to Nature KA2 project. Young people have been telling us for many years that they feel calmer when they are outdoors in nature, and that they feel better when they are taking action to address the climate crisis and fulfil the aims of the Green Agenda. Since 2019, we have been developing our capabilities with our European partners in this area through a series of Projects, and the outcomes with young people have been very positive. We would like to continue and deepen this work over the next number of years using Accreditation.