The British Youth Council is a youth-led charity that empowers young people aged 25 and under to influence and inform the decisions that affect their lives. BYC commissioned a piece of research about young people views around the UK. A majority of young people felt they didn't have a voice and were not listen to by decision makers. They reported facing practical and social barriers to accessing training and a lack of knowledge on how to influence and improve their communities. Many young people felt decision makers are not accessible and youth friendly and there is a large gap between young people and those who making decisions that are affecting them. In the 2010 General Election only 45% of 18-24 voted and only a third of young people across Europe voted in the 2009 European elections. This project was therefore planned coincide with the run up and first year after of the general election in 2015, a pivotal year in deciding the direction of the lives of young people in the UK and in Europe. In response to the growing issue of youth not having the opportunity to speak up about their issues, disengagement with democracy and lack of opportunities to develop campaigning and leadership skills and with the General Elections in 2015, the British Youth Council delivered a series of national 'Dialogue with Decision Makers' meetings. These bought together 251 young people with policy makers before and after the Elections to discuss youth issues and produce recommendations and guidance on policy, as well as sharing best practice. The main aims of the project were to: • To empower young people to improve the lives of others by influencing policy, campaigning and supporting their communities • Raise the profile of issues that affect and concern young people with decision makers • Facilitate and encourage meaningful dialogue between young people and decision makers To achieve this, in total we ran 12 meetings relevant to this project. 8 were part of the original application, and due to a low turnout on numbers and some unforeseen delays and changes to personnel during the project, we provided 4 alternative/additional events for young people to engage, during the activity period of this project, which we also detail in the report. [These changes were submitted to the NA and subsequently agreed]. The events ranged from panel debates with Members of Parliament in Westminster, to an equalities event in Manchester for those young people who identify as BME, LGBT, disabled or women. All activities succeeded in achieving their common aims of giving young people the skills and direct access to decision makers to develop policy recommendation about youth issues. As the British Youth Council are the lead coordinators of UK National Working Group for Structured Dialogue in Europe, the outcomes of the meetings also directly fed into wider process of the ‘Youth Empowerment’ theme of Structured Dialogue in the UK and in Europe. The initiative also served to raise our profile as a youth council with decision-makers, preparing and enabling ongoing structured dialogue through other opportunities and, in particular, with the EU referendum debate. One long-term consequence of the initiative is that the British Youth Council wants to repeat many of the events in future years – in particular the All Party Parliamentary Groups with decision makers, and the Equality for You events to encourage minority group participation.