The "A.C.T. Aware & Committed Teens" project aimed to promote active and responsible citizenship among young people, as well as a vision of the European society characterized by their involvement and intercultural cooperation. As defined by the European Commission, participation in democratic life, common European values and civic engagement lie at the very heart of the 2021-2027 Erasmus+ programme. Furthermore, participation is a fundamental right enshrined in both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Declaration of the Rights of the Child. It is also one of the educational objectives developed within the partner organizations. Taking part to society and exercising active citizenship requires access to reliable and diverse sources of information that allow individuals to form their own opinions. For young people, these sources most often come from social networks or digital media, where disinformation, rumours and conspiracy theories are rampant. The approach developed in the project was therefore twofold: - to inform participants about the various opportunities for involvement in their communities, to make them reflect upon the meaning and the usefulness of such experiences, to help them identify their own strengths and potential in order to increase their ability to act, and thus facilitate, in accordance with the participants’ interests and sensitivity, their active and voluntary involvement in their community. - to raise participants’ awareness of online disinformation mechanisms in order to foster empowerment and critical thinking in regard to the digital content they are exposed to on a daily basis. Thanks to numerous European exchanges and to a firsthand knowledge of the impact these can have on participants, the three seasoned partners, in accordance with their shared values, wished to develop several general objectives: As associations supporting mobility and open-mindedness and as youth workers: - To encourage active citizenship among young people and develop a sense of European belonging through exchange and creation, to promote European cooperation among young people, to urge adults to acknowledge the strengths and potential of the youth - To encourage young people’s openness to the world around them and mutual understanding, to nurture values such as solidarity and tolerance in order to strengthen cohesion among peoples in general and among this group in particular - To promote group dynamics, sharing, dialogue and develop socialization through community life - To increase the international dimension and attractiveness of partner associations. For young people: - To become aware of their ability to act socially within their community(ies). - To cultivate self-confidence, critical thinking, initiative, creativity and innovation. - To learn to improve through human differences, the knowledge and skills of others and the diversity of cultures - To increase their skill levels, thereby improving their personal development and enhancing their future employability. The partner organizations advocate for the idea that popular education nurture civic engagement among young people. In compliance with their objectives and approach to youth work, the partner organizations aimed to promote mobility, non-formal education, communication, interaction, citizenship, engagement, cultural discovery and relations, friendship between nations, a sense of European belonging and values of European brotherhood. This initiative resonated with young people’s concerns about climate change, their desire to take action on this issue and their striving for knowledge about consumption and its impact in order to make informed decisions. By working in multicultural groups and exploring a theme both socially and societally relevant, the aims were to increase skill levels, specifically transferable skills, through informal learning, to improve foreign language skills, to raise awareness and openness to other cultures and ways of life, to engage and actively participate in a project by cooperating with other young Europeans, and to strengthen the values of solidarity, democracy and critical thinking. The ambition is not only to make young European aware that they have a place and a role to play in European society, but also to promote this view among citizens of all ages, thus leading them to recognize the strengths and potential of the youth.