When analysing the current situation in the EU, Eastern Europe, and the EECA countries we observe that youth face several common challenges, with obvious peculiarities and different levels of intensity depending on the country. To mention some of them, youngsters face difficulties to access the labour market, ineffective political participation, low-quality and limited opportunities for personal development, economical struggles, uncertainty towards future and a general feeling of impossibility to influence relevant changes to improve youth situation.Therefore, when talking about change many youngsters apply the logics of “change from above”, leading them to passivity andfrustration. The project aims to provide an overall understanding for youth workers on the mechanisms of change and the relevantrole of youngsters in influencing the reality and triggering social changes.At theoretical level, the framework of the training will recall to the importance of participation in any of its four dimensions –cultural,political, social and economic-, with a special focus on individual empowerment as a root to make this participation effective.By understanding these different concepts and its interconnections, the training course will contribute to the organisations andyouth workers development, raising their own capacities to participate and to empower their peers and target groups.The objectives of the training course are:• To introduce civil society activists and CSO staff to systematic approaches to social change in the youth sector• To explore the meaning of youth empowerment and its different dimensions• To create a portfolio of measures for successful youth participation and empowerment• To establish transnational links between CSOs in the youth sector and translate them into project-based partnershipThe methodological approach of the Training Course is based on non-formal education and its principles. Workshops, discussions,presentations, theater, role-plays and theoretical inputs will be used.The impact on participants will mainly refer to personal competence development on improved conceptual understanding of theplace of youth work in the context of social change processes, an improved conceptual understanding of the dimensions and toolsfor youth empowerment and a diversified understanding of the situation of young people in Europe and the developmentchallenges young people face.The training course will take place in Dilijan, Armenia, from 8th until 16th October 2016. 29 youth workers, youth educators, andproject managers/coordinators in the youth field from 12 countries: Albania, Armenia, Belarus, Czech Republic, Georgia,Germany, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Serbia, Spain, Ukraine will participate in the training.