In the Netherlands, youth political parties are very active. In most cities there are youth branches of political parties. They serve multiple purposes: to provide leisure activities, to get organizational experience, to gain experience in a political context and to have influence on decision making processes. Next to these structures, many countries have national youth councils, with representatives who function as a key between politicians and youth. Despite the existence of these structures, many youngsters feel like they don’t have a say in governance that affects them directly. Especially within the target group of many youth clubs and youth NGO’s this sentiment could be heard. Many youngsters don’t see the opportunities they have, to let their voice be heard. This training aimed to equip the youth worker with the right tools, to guide youth in order to be active in democratic structures to voice their needs. The training promoted the start of a debating club within youth organizations, ran by youth. Via this club, youth will be united to discuss their opinions and to advocate for their wishes. To motivate and to empower them, we explored the existing structures in each country and offered workshops on debating (persuasion techniques etc.) and philosophical backgrounds. To pitch their ideas and to advocate for them, we explored the possibilities of social media in particular. The best practices were discussed. Clear working plans will be made for each organization and after the implementation it will be evaluated, resulting in a quick guide with best practices, usable for other organizations as well. This training course aimed to develop competences of youth workers to empower youngsters with skills, knowledge and attitudes to improve their influence on decision making processes. The objectives were: • To explore the situations in which youth can have stronger influence on decision making processes • To analyze the deficiencies of youth on having a stronger influence on policies that affect them • To examine the existing structures for youth to have influence • To explore different ways in which youth workers can empower youngsters to play an active role in decision making processes • To introduce debating clubs as a tool to stimulate youngsters to develop their skills and increase their influence regarding youth policies, with workshops on debating, philosophical backgrounds and advocacy • To discuss the best practices • To develop concrete working plans for each organization on empowering youth regarding their influence on decision making processes • To evaluate the implementation and provide a guide with best practices for other organizations as well. The working methods were non-formal, with brain storms, discussions, expert input, role plays and energizers. There were be 23 participants and a team of 4 trainers/organizers, from 12 different countries: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Romania, Turkey, Netherlands, Armenia and Georgia.