Through the implementation of the project ‘Body image and self-esteem: how to help young people accept themselves and their bodies’, we want to strengthen the capacity of European youth workers to address the sensitive issue of body image and self-esteem among young people, providing concrete tools, training skills and effective intervention strategies based on non-formal education. Through participatory consultation tools — such as focus groups, a questionnaire and collaborative work sessions — Move2Europe APS involved soc*, former Erasmus+ mobility participants, young people from the local community and citizens from different areas of the country with a specific interest in issues related to body image and stereotypes. Analysis of the data collected has significantly highlighted how the representation of bodies, particularly female bodies, in traditional and digital media is often distorted and harmful. This representation contributes to reinforcing the perception that physical appearance is the main parameter for assessing individual value, encouraging unhealthy eating habits and behaviours aimed at achieving dominant aesthetic standards, as well as preventing episodes of ridicule or fat-shaming. All this has highlighted not only the needs of young people, but also a strong need for training for educators, youth workers and other educational figures, who often lack the appropriate tools to deal with such sensitive issues in a competent, empathetic and constructive manner. It is essential, in fact, that those who work with young people know how to recognise the signs of distress related to body image, promote an inclusive and positive approach to the body and be able to actively combat stereotypes and discrimination. The questionnaire was also administered in other European countries, thanks to the collaboration with partner associations with which Move2Europe APS has been working on these issues for some time. In these countries too, the results confirmed similar dynamics of exclusion and social pressure towards non-conforming bodies. [https://www.move2europe.it/questionari-sondaggi-ricerche-2/]. It is precisely on the basis of this analysis of the needs of young people, but also of those who accompany them in their educational journeys, that we decided to develop this project, with the aim of providing youth workers with skills, tools and spaces for discussion and contributing to the creation of safer, more respectful and welcoming educational environments for all. The aim of the project “Body image and self-esteem: how to help young people accept themselves and their bodies” is to offer youth workers the opportunity to acquire and experiment with inclusive methodologies to support young people in the process of accepting their bodies, building healthy self-esteem and valuing differences. In particular, the project aims to: - Enhance the educational role of youth workers Support youth workers as facilitators of healthy identity development, based on listening, respect and valuing the individual. Strengthen their ability to create safe, welcoming and non-judgmental educational environments where every young person can feel free to express themselves. - Provide participants with concrete and replicable tools Provide inclusive (non-formal, participatory, physical) methodologies to address issues often considered “sensitive” or invisible with young people: body image, aesthetic discrimination, physical insecurities, stigma surrounding disability, cultural representations of the body. Make activities, worksheets, narrative and creative tools available for direct use in youth centres, schools and informal groups. - Make youth workers promoters of empowerment Accompany them in becoming positive role models, capable of reinforcing young people's self-esteem, countering negative messages and valuing diversity as a resource. Support them in recognising and deconstructing their own internal biases, to facilitate truly equitable and inclusive education. - Integrate the body dimension into educational pathways Move beyond a purely “cognitive” approach to education by including the body as a place of learning, relationship and transformation. Propose an education that recognises that the body is political, social and cultural, and that every young person has the right to experience it with dignity, respect and freedom. - Train practitioners to work with complexity Offer tools to manage diverse groups, include young people with different experiences, and address intersectional issues (body, disability, ethnicity, gender, social status, sexual orientation). Prepare practitioners to respond to situations of distress or self-exclusion, strengthening their ability to act preventively and transformatively.