BASIC INFORMATION:The proposed project is a KA1 Youth Workers mobility - Contact Making Event which is due to take place in Wisla in Poland on 4 - 11 September 2016. The mobility will gather 28 partners from the following countries: Bulgaria, United Kingdom, Romania, Macedonia, Slovakia, Turkey, Italy, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Greece, the Netherlands and Poland. CONTEXT:As keen advocates of the previous Youth in Action and Lifelong Learning Programmes as well as the current Erasmus+ Programme, we strongly believe that mobilising and involving young people in transnational projects is one of the effective tools in dealing with the possible consequence of unemployment. Though majority of the projects offered around Europe and worldwide do not create jobs themselves, precious learning gained when attending or helping to organise an activity leads to invaluable experiences. We have already seen the outcomes of that with hundreds of young people boosting their self-esteem, becoming more motivated to overcome challenges, developing resilience and even setting up their own entrepreneurial ventures (e.g. projects, start-ups, etc.). How to ensure, however, that the projects offered to young people, particularly those unemployed ones, are truly meaningful and empowering? How to turn them into valuable lessons with learning and development (both personal and professional) in focus? And finally, how to activate those who have already lost their hopes and are reluctant to make any further steps towards the future? These and many other questions sparked up the discussion between partners and led to the following application being presented. AIM AND OBJECTIVES:The proposed Contact Making Event (with elements of a training course) is aimed at bringing together stakeholders interested in developing networks and joint future projects with the view to addressing issues of youth unemployment. We wish to achieve that by means of:- gathering 28 youth workers and project coordinators from around Europe to better understand short and long term implications of youth unemployment - exchanging best practices in the fields of youth empowerment and supporting the development of employability skills through engagement in youth projects- developing capacities to prepare and implement high-quality, sustainable youth projects with long lasting impact at the local and international level - facilitating networking between partner promoters and development of strategies for the future joint projects aimed at unemployed young people- promoting the use of the local and international funds (e.g. Erasmus+) in supporting young people’s development and combating the consequences of youth unemployment- developing ideas and strategies for the future joint projects to be carried out by the partner promoters.WORKING METHODOLOGY: CME will be based on the principles and practices of non-formal education, taking into account the needs of youth NGOs and their target groups, their motivations / expectations and previous experiences. In order to implement an effective and quality mobility, a diversity of working methods will be used, including: interactive presentations,group work, simulation exercises and role plays that involve participants directly and emotionally, multimedia use for visualisation, discussions in form of e.g. World Cafe, games and energisers, daily feedback, etc. IMPACT:It is expect that Contact Making Event will lead to:- new, intentional friendships and professional networks developed- competences gained in the field of youth empowerment and combating youth unemployment- better knowledge of and hence preparedness to run future Erasmus+ projects- greater capacities developed to initiate and successfully implement high quality local and international projects- new and innovative youth work methods learnt - we hope that the tools and ideas taken from the workshops implemented during the CME will empower participants themselves to act as multipliers and promoters of non-formal education as a way to acquire precious life and employability skills- renewed motivation to carry on with various activates at the local and/or international level - we expect that participants themselves will be the drivers and main promoters of joint project ideas developed with fellow participants during the CME. As such, we hope to see them being engaged in the follow-up activities in forms on new projects, workshops, initiatives, etc.