"It’s hard to say no when friends insist. I know it’s wrong, but I give in." – survey respondent, 17. This reflection is echoed across our partner communities in Romania, Bulgaria, and Croatia. In our survey (N=54), country split is Romania 21, Croatia 17, Bulgaria 16. One in two respondents live in rural areas or small towns (27/54 = 50%). Many reported first experiences with smoking or alcohol between ages 10–15, often linked to peer pressure. Individual responses show frequent peer influence, high daily screen time, and irregular fruit/vegetable intake. Confidence to refuse pressure sits mostly at low to moderate levels. These patterns point to early vulnerability to vices and unstable coping. The survey also highlights barriers tied to fewer opportunities (FO): low family income, limited access to digital tools, minority background, disabilities, or low language confidence. Such barriers restrict access to reliable prevention resources and limit healthy routines. Baseline items on peer pressure frequency, coping choices, refusal self-efficacy, social support, daily habits, and risk knowledge will allow precise tracking of change across the project. To address these barriers, we define a concrete FO profile per country. In Romania, recruitment focuses on rural adolescents identified through school counsellors and NGOs working with low-income families. In Bulgaria, the focus is on young people from rural areas and disadvantaged communities, referred through social workers and youth centres. In Croatia, participants come from small towns with higher youth unemployment and limited access to extracurricular prevention activities. At least 50% of all participants will come from FO backgrounds, with a balanced rural/urban distribution. Adolescents face similar health challenges across Europe, yet contexts differ in policy and culture. A cross-border youth exchange offers a non-formal, peer-led, intercultural setting where participants compare realities, co-create preventive tools, and transfer tested solutions at home. Partner organisations adapt materials to language and context so prevention becomes practical and usable after the exchange. Needs we address: - Peer pressure and refusal skills. - Healthy coping strategies that replace substance-based responses. - Everyday health habits: nutrition, movement, and sleep. - Inclusion and equity for FO youth through targeted supports. The RO–BG–HR partnership brings diverse health and social contexts. We compare prevention practices, co-develop resources in three languages, and pilot approaches that can be replicated locally. Participants gain intercultural peer learning. Organisations gain tested tools they can reuse in future work. By linking FO recruitment to specific schools, NGOs, and referral partners, we ensure that the young people most affected by barriers are directly reached. Transparent selection and tailored support plans guarantee that disadvantaged youth not only access but also succeed in the project, and equity is verified through disaggregated monitoring. At least 50% of participants will be FO youth, identified through self-declared barriers. Support includes pre-financing, buddying, flexible roles, adapted materials, and translations. We will monitor results separately for FO and non-FO participants to confirm equity. Goal Reduce vulnerability to vices and strengthen healthy behaviours among 30 young people (aged 14–19) from Romania, Bulgaria, and Croatia through practice-based, peer-led learning with measurable short-term and follow-up effects. Objectives: O1. To increase the ability to resist and handle peer pressure among young people aged 14–19 from Romania, Bulgaria, and Croatia by at least 35% by the end of the project. O2. To improve the use of healthy coping strategies instead of risky behaviours among young people aged 14–19 from Romania, Bulgaria, and Croatia by at least 30% by the end of the project. O3. To increase daily health habits (physical activity and fruit/vegetable intake) among young people aged 14–19 from Romania, Bulgaria, and Croatia by at least 30% by the end of the project. Instruments used: refusal self-efficacy short scale (5 items, Likert 1–5), coping index (6 items), mini-quiz on health risks (7 multiple-choice items), and simple habits journal (5 daily items). Measurement and ethics We apply the same instrument at baseline (first day), final (last day), and +3 months. We collect informed consent, anonymise responses, and report only aggregated data. We will offer referrals to local services in sensitive cases. Analysis plan and missing data: results are analysed both at group and subgroup level (FO vs non-FO, rural vs urban). Where questionnaires are incomplete at +3 months, valid cases are used and attrition rates reported; qualitative reflection forms help triangulate missing quantitative data. This ensures findings remain robust and equity is transparently monitored.