The project “Bridges of Democracy: Youth Leadership”, coordinated by Dünya Adalet Forumu Derneği, was designed to bring together young people from Türkiye, Portugal, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine in order to enable them to gain concrete experience in the fields of democracy, participation and youth leadership. The project was conceived and implemented as a response to the growing need for democratic participation at local and international levels, to the feeling of exclusion of young people from decision-making processes and to the weakening of dialogue channels among youth caused by polarisation. In a period when young people from different social, cultural and political backgrounds mostly get to know each other through social media feeds and news, the project adopted an approach based on face to face encounters to reduce prejudices and to build mutual trust. In this framework, the project was implemented as a two phase youth exchange: first in Porto between 25–29 April 2025 and then in Alanya between 16–22 October 2025. Thanks to this two step structure, participants first discussed European values, democratic culture and the notion of youth citizenship in Portugal; then they deepened their experiences in Türkiye by observing local practices of democratic culture, participatory mechanisms and youth initiatives on site. Both phases were organised exactly as described in the original application and were based on experiential and participatory learning methods that placed young people’s active involvement at the centre. Through workshops, role plays, simulations, open space discussions, group work and intercultural learning activities, young people were enabled to experience democratic processes not only at a theoretical level but also as a practical and lived reality. The project responded to two main needs identified in its background. The first was the need for safe and inclusive learning environments that would allow young people to gain a deeper understanding of fundamental concepts such as democracy, human rights, participation and the rule of law, and to relate these concepts to their own life experiences. The second was the lack of a transnational network in which young people from different countries and socio cultural backgrounds could engage in equal level dialogue and develop common solutions to common problems. The sessions organised both in Porto and in Alanya were planned to address these two needs: young people presented how democracy functions in their own countries, compared similarities and differences and jointly developed solution ideas. At the same time, the project was fully in line with the priorities of the Erasmus+ Programme in the field of youth by strengthening young people’s active participation in social life and their links with civil society organisations. Participants examined youth initiatives and good practices that amplify the voice of young people at local level, and they met with civil society actors in Porto and Alanya to discuss what they could adapt to their own communities. Throughout the activities, current issues such as the climate crisis, digitalisation, misinformation, hate speech and social exclusion were addressed in connection with democracy and youth leadership. In this way, the project did not only transfer the concept of democratic participation as an abstract notion, but also enabled young people to connect it with the real problems they face. An important element of the project background was the experience and needs analysis arising from previous cooperation among the partner organisations. Partner institutions reported that, in their youth work at national level, they had observed a decline in young people’s trust in democratic institutions and electoral processes, an increase in the perception that “my vote/contribution does not change anything” and a tendency to resort to polarising discourse on social media instead of peaceful dialogue. The specific objectives of the project were briefly as follows: • To increase young people’s knowledge and awareness on democracy, human rights and active citizenship • To reinforce young people’s motivation and self confidence to take part in participatory democratic processes • To develop lasting ties and cooperation among young people from different countries on the basis of intercultural dialogue and tolerance • To support young people in designing small scale initiatives and action plans that foster democratic participation in their local communities • To strengthen the partner organisations’ capacities to implement international projects on democracy and youth leadership in the field of youth work