The project "Playfully connecting Europe" focusses on the main topics Minorities, Youth Work and International Cooperation and contains three encounters for qualifying youth workers. The project's structure of planning, realization and evaluation enables dedicated youth workers to acquire a broad insight in the realization of international exchanges. The participating groups "Umlandspringer" from Hanover (Germany), "AK Banat-JA" from Arad (Romania) and "Weiß-Kreuz-Jugend" Lana (South Tyrol/Italy) meet for two encounters of learners and staff in Duderstadt at the Jugendgästehaus of DJO - Deutsche Jugend in Europa for planning and conceptual design as well as realization of the training for youth leaders.In April 2016 four representatives of each group get together for four days to intensify the contact between the groups and plan the encounter of August 2016. For nine days 42 youth leaders get input about outdoor and environmental education. The experiences made will be used to develope new and sustainable methods that offer variability and flexibility to them as multiplicators of youth work. They will develope methods in the areas of "Creative work", "Descriptive Methods" and "Methods of outdoor education". The youth leaders of each group asked for these areas to be worked on. The newly developed will be of great profit not only for the participating youth leaders but also for their associations and youth groups. On a personal level increased team working competences and communicational skills are to be expected which are useful in many situations. In October 2016 the groups will meet in Lana (South Tyrol/Italy) to evaluate the previous encounters and take actions to improve future exchanges. The results of the project will be published and disseminated. At the same time the partners have the chance to examine the conditions for an exchange in 2017 in South Tyrol.The working methods used durring all three encounters are exclusively non-formal. The evaluation of the programm and the project results happens continuously and on different levels. But not only on a professional level will the participants work together and support each others learning. The participants of the Romanian and the Italian group are members of the German minority in their countries. Them meeting the group from Germany gives them the opportunity to communicate about cultural and historic aspects. It is about discovering how the participants see their origin, how they live it, how they experience it. Which cultural influences are significant for them? How important are their German roots in their daily lives? How do they see each other during the encounters? How does the German group experience meeting German minorities? All of these questions encourage the participants to have intense talks. They get more sensitive and accepting of mutualities and differences between each other and create connections that last longer than the project and promote close partnerships between the groups.