“SPARK!” is a 6-day residential training course to take place in Hornsjoe in Norway, in which 34 youth workers from 16 countries will take part. The training course takes place from January 9th – 16th of 2016. The project aims to empower and build up the competences of civil society organisations, youth workers and youth leaders to initiate, support and run social initiatives and projects based on community needs, with a focus on social entrepreneurship. Transversal aspects of the training course will be the ERASMUS+ programme, professional and organisational development, and the fostering of new partnerships and projects. Another important consideration in the proposed project is to ensure a strong dimension of transfer of competences and learning points, as well as a widespread dissemination and multiplication of the results.COUNTRIES INVOLVED The partnership with Norway embraces 15 further countries: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, United KingdomOBJECTIVES(*) to get to know each other and to learn from each other on all levels(*) to explore how to assess community needs and how to formulate adequate innovative interventions(*) to build up competences and practice tools in the area of social entrepreneurship, managing people and commitment, and project management(*) to identify follow‐up activitiesMETHODSThe training course will be based on the specific needs of the participants and partner organisations, and will be highly participatory. Diversity, e.g. in the group of participants, will be considered as a resource for the exchange and transfer of competences, as well as special attention is paid to the intercultural dimension of the project. There will only be few frontal lectures, the main part of the training course will be delivered in the form of practical sessions implemented by the participants in a learning-by-doing fashion, using the full toolbox of non-formal education and experiential learning. The trainers will take care of creating a supportive and safe learning environment, where participants are encouraged and coached while mastering challenges that contribute to their personal, professional and organisational development. The learning takes place both on individual level as well as in synergetic group processes, while always based on the participants’ needs. Transversal emphasis is put on creativity and innovation, learning-to-learn, feedback, (self-)reflection and self-directed-learning as key supporting processes. Furthermore, special attention is paid to making the learning points of the training course relevant, sustainable and transferable, eg by producing exhaustive documentation and by providing templates for tailor-made development and action plans at all levels.IMPACT, RESULTS, LONG-TERM BENEFITWe expect the participants and the partner organisations to have more competent hands, hearts and heads in the area of how to initiate, support and run social initiatives and projects based on community needs, with a focus on social entrepreneurship. The impact we wish to see are more opportunities and better conditions for young people at all levels to enhance social entrepreneurship, to initiate and manage sustainable social initiatives in order to bring about positive change, and to have the opportunities and conditions for active participation and citizenship. The general impact we wish to see at local, regional, national and European/international level is that young people are agents of positive change and catalysts for innovative solutions for community needs. Another impact we wish to see is the creation of (self-) employment.KEYWORDS/TAGSnon-formal education, training course, quality of support systems, management, entrepreneurship, sustainability, innovation, creativity, participation, active citizenship, learning to learn, key competencies, employability