Across Europe, youth work has been widely recognised as a key instrument for supporting young people’s active participation, inclusion and personal development. Yet recent reviews reveal that the professional identity and competences of youth workers remain unevenly defined and supported across national systems (THE STATE OF PLAY OF NATIONAL PROCESSES WITHIN THE EUROPEAN YOUTH WORK AGENDA IMPLEMENTATION - SURVEY REPORT 2025). It concluded that recognition is fragmented, training pathways are inconsistent, and support for competence development is insufficient, particularly for those just entering the field. This means that many new youth workers start their careers without structured opportunities to develop the professional competences necessary for high-quality practice. There are various issues that youth workers are facing in their daily work (Futures of Youth Work Future, Foresight Research Report, 2024) – high unemployment, refugee and migrant waves, radicalisation, social exclusion, intolerance, xenophobia, various conflicts based on stereotypes, prejudice, lack of critical thinking abilities and lack of intercultural competence in general etc. Moreover, due to the speed of technological advancement, youth organisations of every shape and size increasingly require skilled youth workers who can think creatively to troubleshoot youth issues and find the right solutions quickly. Those who learn how to facilitate and run learning processes are therefore at a distinct advantage in empowering the youth work. Various EU frameworks (e.g. Competence Model for Youth Workers to Work Internationally (revised edition, 2023) highlight the central role of facilitation skills in enabling inclusive learning, participation and intercultural dialogue. However, those models also acknowledges gaps: youth workers, especially newcomers, need stronger preparation to facilitate in diverse contexts, including digital and hybrid settings. Without such competences, youth work risks failing to engage young people meaningfully or to adapt to their evolving needs. This is why we believe non-formal education should play a vast role in developing youth workers skills and competencies. Youth workers via their work can better address various issues of social exclusion and needs of youth by giving them opportunities for personal development, working with their motivation, behaviour, attitudes and promoting social inclusion on different levels. With this project we aim to strengthen youth workers’ competences in designing, facilitating, and evaluating inclusive educational activities, with a focus on structuring learning processes effectively so that young people can fully benefit from youth work. The project also seeks to address contemporary challenges, foster youth empowerment at the local level, and support youth workers in self-assessment as well as in their personal and professional growth. The objectives of the project: 1. To assess the existing competences of youth workers and enhance them within a supportive training environment; 2. To equip youth workers with a core set of competences for the effective use of non-formal education methods and tools that foster youth empowerment at the local level; 3. To strengthen key facilitation competences, including: - Meaningful communication - Ability to use diverse communication techniques in working with youth groups - Ability to ask powerful questions - Ability to motivate and empower - Ability to deal with ambiguity - Ability to deal with ethical dilemmas - Non-violent communication skill and non-judgemental approach - Ability to use different facilitation models and techniques - Ability “speak common language” with young people - Ability to transmit values through facilitation - Ability to be inclusive in learning process - To discover diverse facilitation techniques and tools for inclusive youth work to increase youth workers’ awareness regarding their own values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviour, regarding cultural and self expression (considering the use of voice, intonation, body language, gestures, positioning, use of space, mimics, graphics etc.) and about own communication patterns in various (learning) settings; - To promote networking and cooperation between youth workers and support follow-up initiatives.