The Conexão Jovem youth accreditation project for 2024 included two activities: a Youth Exchange and a Training Course (Professional Development Activity). The aim of the youth exchange was to raise awareness and educate about the environmental and social crisis we are experiencing not only in Europe but worldwide, while also supporting RURAL communities in becoming more attractive to young people and better protected by those who visit them. The aim of the professional training was to educate and train youth workers in combating misinformation in the digital environment and developing media literacy skills, while also focusing on current trends such as Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality as means to be adopted, but with an awareness of their dangers and also their environmental impact, thus linking in with the objectives of the first activity. The two activities focused directly on two EU priorities for the program: Combating Climate Change and Digital Transition and Transformation. Based on these two main pillars, the following sub-objectives were developed, which are in line with the other two priorities of the program, which were also the priorities (pillars) of the Conexão Jovem accreditation project. The objectives of the two combined activities were therefore: - Educate for Climate Action, raise awareness of the current environmental crisis, and develop environmental promotion skills and values - Promote and develop rural and disadvantaged areas - understand the effect of human action in these areas, understand the potential for development and young capital in these areas, understand the current risk factors that hinder sustainable progress and, finally, understand how young people can contribute and encourage more young people and more people to contribute to these areas as well. For this reason, we decided to implement the exchange in Gerês (Campo do Gerês) and develop outputs related to this Natural Park and support its preservation and protection. - Value the natural and cultural heritage of Campo do Gerês, including the stories, traditions, and memory of the submerged village of Vilarinho das Furnas; - Enhance digital transition and transformation by learning to use tools such as Artificial Intelligence efficiently and consciously - Empower and strengthen media literacy, critical thinking, and digital awareness skills among youth workers; - Create tools, processes, and learning bases to transfer this knowledge at the local level from youth workers and young leaders to young people in communities with fewer opportunities, such as the publications created in both activities. (Field Companion Guide and Ebook with an appendix with Non-Formal Education Activities) - Promote active participation and participation in democracy (Program and Accreditation Priority) - Both projects focused on active participation in the digital world and environmental activism in order to make young people agents of change in their communities, equipping them with tools to have an active voice and get involved in their communities and in the policies of their territories and the EU. - Promote intercultural dialogue, intergenerational dialogue, inclusion, and diversity (Program Priority a of Accreditation - Inclusion and Diversity) - At this level, our goal was to connect young people with each other and to work on inclusion and acceptance of difference as Europeans, promoting the values of unity and mutual support that are the mottos of the EU. Hence our commitment to a group of young people with fewer opportunities, which included young people from different ethnic groups and minorities, second-generation migrants, among others. In addition, our goal was also to connect young people with rural communities, people from villages such as Campo do Gerês, and to work together to preserve Gerês and, more broadly, the planet, alongside the people who live in these areas and keep them preserved and unpolluted. - Promote the values and ideals of the EU and the Erasmus+ program, as well as the SDGs and Youth Goals