Young people between the ages of 15 and 25 constitute a fifth of the world’s population, yet they have limited influence in national political institutions. There is a general sense that traditional political parties, political institutions and processes, including elections, fail to appeal to this critical segment of the population due to the lack of convincing political programmes that effectively target the younger generation. Young people feel keenly about key social issues such as inclusion, education and employment but equally, feel alienated from the ongoing political processes.The training seminar brings together youth workers, leaders, researchers, from 10 programme countries to discuss policy solutions to best address the overall lack of trust by youth in political institutions, and how to foster youth inclusion and participation in politics and youth work.During the training seminar we will assess:1. The challenges to youth political participation, examining the causes of youth disengagement with traditional forms of democratic politics by presenting research findings, specific case studies and personal experiences.2. Examination of existing policy solutions that have been designed and adopted by governments, and organizations to assess how successful they have been in fostering and supporting youth political engagement and participation.3. Exploration of the themes of ICT (Information Communication Technologies) and Social Media, looking at opportunities and challenges that these technologies offer to youth active citizens in interaction with policy makers. The power of the internet and the emergence of new forms of expression are not necessarily correlated with increased youth participation – new ways of communication and expression are often disconnected from democratic institutions and processes and do not replace active political participation. The challenge is therefore, to ensure that the plethora of new forms of communication and mobilization reinforce, rather than threaten democracy.4. Propose a manual/booklet steering our recommendations and work during the training, we will distill policy recommendations and ways to empower youth from the sessions and propose non formal methodologies for implementation.Hence, the aims of the seminar are:- A more holistic understanding of the topic through being confronted with different perspectives .- New inspiration and input for the future design of educational programmes and activities, policies and research projects.- Concrete cooperation projects in the field of assessment of (non-formal) learning between actors from the three target groups – policy, practice and research.- New questions which inspire and motivate to go further and deeper with the topic.