"Coding for Young People" is an Erasmus+ project under Key Action 2 - strategic partnership in the youthfield. The project addresses the issue of current underdevelopment of ICT skills among young people, especially girls who areunderrepresented in STEM careers. As the European Union adopted the Europe 2020 strategic framework, it became clear thatcompetitiveness and innovation is directly linked to the use of information and communication technologies (ICT). There is aconsensus about the crucial importance of e-skills – their shortages, mismatches and digital divide affect negatively EU growth,innovation, competitiveness and social cohesion. New technologies are developing rapidly, so that news skills have to be acquiredand constantly updated.The project is aimed at transferring and implementing innovative practices in the field of programming in non-formal educationsystem at the European level. The project will contribute to the increase of digital competences among youth and support the formal education system in implementing innovative STEM curricula. It involves three partners from Spain and Belgium: Consulta Europa Projects and Innovation, Asociación de Técnicos de Informática and Digital Leadership Institute. Partners will also involve representatives of their professional networks to contribute to the project.Consulta Europa Projects and Innovation – the coordinator of the project - is a Spanish SME. It is specialized in designing andimplementing innovative strategies for companies and institutions. Asociación de Técnicos de Informática is a non-profit organization founded in 1967 and based in Spain. It gathers IT professionalsand students of computer science. ATI is the leading, largest and oldest association of ICT professionals in Spain with more than3000 members. Its objective is promoting and supporting activity of those who work as technicians and professionals in the field ofinformation technologies, providing its partners an opportunity to exchange experience, training and access to information aboutthe latest developments in the field of ICT.The Digital Leadership Institute is a Brussels-based, international NGO whose global mission is to bridge the gender gap and digitaldivide by educating and empowering digital leaders of today and tomorrow. DLI (formerly Zen Digital Europe) is a recognised worldleader in promoting greater participation of girls and women in strategic, innovative ESTEAM (entrepreneurship, science,technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) sectors, through four areas of activity: education and skills development, innovationand entrepreneurship support, advocacy and awareness building, research and consultancy.PRISM is an italian association that works with youngsters, encouraging cooperation and international mobility in the youth field, and supporting initiatives for European cooperation in lifelong learning, education and vocational training.In the course of the project, partners will develop a study and a database of stakeholders related to programming initiatives inMember States. The aim of the study is diagnosis of opportunities to acquire digital competences through non-formal education -especially computer programming throughout the EU. It will investigate to what extent young people in the selected countries haveaccess to non-formal digital education and what is the impact of non-formal initiatives on digital competences improvement. Thepartners will also develop a database of public/private institutions, NGOs active in the field of teaching programming to youth innon-formal way. The database will also contain a pool of experts and trainers who can support ICT youth-oriented initiatives.The project will particularly result in developing a network of partners actively involved in promoting ICT skills among relevantstakeholders; exchanging knowledge and good practices between partners and relevant stakeholders; promoting organizationsactively supporting development of programming skills and extremely skilled and dedicated people who could be role models foryouth; engaging young people, especially girls, in programming activities ran by partners to address the gap between genders inSTEM – related skills and attracting youth workers to adopt ICT tools in their work and develop their professional skills in this field. During the second phase of this 2-year project, the partners will work together to directly involve youth workers and youngsters in existing initiatives, in order to foster the improvement of their competences in programming. A joint staff training event will be organised for the youth workers of the partners’ organisations involving the experts and organisations identified in the networking phase: this will lead to the transfer of adapted best practices in the partner’s organisations.