<< Objectives >>Main motivation behind the project ‘Neighborhood of youth centers in Europe’ was to improve programs of youth centers with final goal to reduce the percentage of youth that are leaving school early. In participating countries, youth centers exist but they struggle with quality of the programme, there are not able to respond to the needs of young people thus young people lack places where they can engage, especially after school. The consortium decided to carry out the project ‘Neighborhood of youth centers in Europe’ because involved organizations are in need to improve quality of activities delivered by youth centers, to increase competencies of youth workers, leaders involved in designing and delivering activities in these centers with aim to provide young people with an opportunity for personal and professional development. Moreover, the partners were strongly motivated to get to know new practices, methods and tools, establish new partnerships and work on development of new project ideas.Moreover, applicant organization Art of the Box and partner from Macedonia Volunteers Centre Skopje implemented together project under Erasmus+ Programme entitled ‘Empower Vulnerable Youth: Theater, Creative Writing and Emotions in Focus’ focused on increasing quality of activities targeting vulnerable youth. This project included two international mobility activities – training course realized in Macedonia and youth exchange in Belgium. The project ‘Empower Vulnerable Youth: Theater, Creative Writing and Emotions in Focus’ brought important impulses to work with involved organizations and made the partners realize the need to work on addressing needs of vulnerable young people.Objectives of the project ‘Neighborhood of youth centers in Europe’:-to increase competencies of youth workers to identify and to address needs and interests of young people in danger of early drop out;-to raise capacities of organizations to deliver quality program activities in youth centers targeting young people, especially young people in danger of early drop out;-to improve quality of services being provided by youth centers;-to support sharing practices, methods and tools addressing needs of young people in danger of early drop out;-to empower young people in danger of early drop out and to support their active involvement in decision making processes and in life of their communities;-to foster partnerships between youth centers from the Western Europe and the Western Balkans;-to increase knowledge on Erasmus + Programme and to support development of new project ideas addressing needs of vulnerable youth in general and youth in danger of early drop out in particular.The project objectives were in line with goals and objectives of Erasmus+ Programme set for year 2019: reaching out to marginalized young people, promoting diversity, sense of initiative of young people and equipping youth workers with competences and methods needed for transferring the common fundamental values of our society particularly to the difficult to reach young people and preventing violent radicalization of young people as well.By developing competencies of youth workers, leaders working with youth in danger of early drop out will increase the quality of services provided by youth centers and provide youth in partner communities’ new opportunities. It means we will prevent their radicalization and support their active involvement in society.The project reflected Europe 2020 strategy as it aimed to improve the quality of services for vulnerable youth and created more inclusive environments in participant’s communities.<< Implementation >>Within the project were realized 3 activities:1. Study visit of Youth Centres in Belgium;2. Study visit of Youth Centres in Germany;3. Seminar in Macedonia. In the 3 activities participated youth workers from 8 countries: Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Germany, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia who have previous experience in youth work, field of non-formal education, or work with vulnerable youth, especially with youth in danger of early dropout. In total 90 participants.The first activity was a Study visit in Belgium. Although the project application was foreseen the SV to be implemented in Lokeren, due to the practical reasons (transport) was implemented in Antwerp. All visited YC were based in Antwerp. Main goal of the SV was: to learn from practices of youth centers and to support transferring methods, approaches and tools addressing needs of vulnerable youth, especially youth in danger of early dropout. Having in mind the long experience of Belgian youth centers in work with youth and preparing different programs for them this study visit was great opportunity for sharing the practices across participating countries. Participants on the study visit had the opportunity to meet different youth centers in Belgium. In the study visit Belgian youth centers and youth houses presented their work, programmes that they are realizing, what are the most attractive activities in which youth are interested and how they fund themselves. Further, participants had the opportunity to ask questions about the work of the youth centers and youth houses. Additionally, participants had the opportunity to learn about some new methods that they can apply in their youth centers. Jinnih Beels (counselor of education, youth, integration and assimilation in Antwerpen) took part in the meeting in Felix Pakhuis in Antwerpen (20/11/2019). All partner organizations had opportunity to present their work. List of all YC and Youth Houses can be find in the Infopack attached. On the SV were used non-formal education working methods. The second activity was a SV in Bremen, Germany. Main goal of the SV was to learn from practices of youth centers and to support transferring methods, approaches and tools addressing needs of vulnerable youth, especially youth in danger of early dropout. Additionally, to the SV in Belgium, participants had the opportunity to work on developing ideas for future projects and activities that they could implement in their centres. The core of the activity was based on visiting youth centers and direct interaction with their representatives, youth workers and leaders. During the visits, the participants were sharing their experiences, presented practices of their organizations and reflected with representatives of visited organizations on common challenges and obstacles. The program included also evaluation activities that were implemented with the goal to provide the participants with an opportunity to reflect on their learning process and reach learning goals and objectives.The third activity was a Seminar held in Macedonia. Although the project application was foreseen to be held in Struga, due to the practical reasons (transport) and location of the Youth Center, it was held in Skopje. The main goal of the seminar was: to develop youth centers programs. The creation of the youth center program was divided into different topics, e.g. “How to spread the word among youngsters?”, “How to encourage vulnerable youth to be part of the youth centre’s activities?”, “Role of Social Media in the creation of activities for youth centers”. During the seminar, the participants discussed also the definition of youth work, youth workers and youth centres in their countries and had a meeting with the Mayor of Kisela Voda at the municipality, where they had a chance to talk about the implementation of youth laws, especially on the local level. On the day preceding the end of the project, the project team and the participants organized the conference for the local community to share their knowledge about youth law and the influence of the youth centers in the youth work and work with vulnerable youth. The aim of the third activity was to empower youth workers and employed in the youth centers with knowledge and know-how to create youth centers programs addressing needs of vulnerable youth, especially youth in danger of early dropout. Moreover, the seminar was an opportunity to strengthen the partnerships between the partners and to work on the ideas for future projects at international level with main goal to establish sustainable partnerships.<< Results >>Project results: - Project website: https://www.networkofyouthcentres.com/ - Booklet of good practices link: https://www.networkofyouthcentres.com/booklet/https://indd.adobe.com/view/645d1081-4d66-43fd-97a7-ad777a492a59- Videos from the activities:https://youtu.be/xs5u0mJyx4Mhttps://fb.watch/evKgeF-mau/https://youtu.be/cTACnJ9VL3whttps://youtu.be/qy1K5uaGweQThe main impact of the project was on the level of directly involved participants and participating organizations and involved youth centres. Once the project was finished the participants were equipped with new knowledge and skills on how to foster the development of young people in danger of early dropout. They gained hands-on knowledge and experience in stimulating and supporting delivering quality activities in youth centres understanding the needs and interests of young people. They increased their knowledge of practices, methods and approaches used by youth centres in Belgium and Germany. They increased their knowledge of Erasmus + Programme and its opportunities. They got a better understanding of international youth project management.Furthermore, the participants were encouraged to set up follow-up projects after attending the activities, by making use of the contacts, content, methods, concepts and inspiration gained. The partner organizations were invited to support these initiatives.The organizations raised their knowledge on addressing the needs of vulnerable youth and explored new practices being applied across participant’s countries. They benefited from new networks and partnerships and more skilled staff. They benefited from new project ideas and practices increasing the quality of activities being delivered by youth centres in their communities.Key results of the project include improved practices of participating organizations and a booklet of good practices available online to other stakeholders interested in improving the quality of services being delivered by youth centres, especially services addressing the needs of young people in danger of dropout.We are confident that by providing youth educators and youth workers with knowledge, competencies and approaches for designing and/or delivering activities in youth centres, this project notably contributed to the efforts to raise the capacities of organizations to deliver quality program activities in youth centers targeting young people, especially young people in danger of early dropout at local and European level.