The “Removing the Barriers in front of the Youth Employment (IST-YOUTH)” project is a partnership building activity within the framework of the Youth in Action Programme, Action 4.3 Training and Networking Partnership-Building Activity, which will take place in Istanbul, Turkey and will last 4 working days. The duration of the Project will be between the dates 12 November 2012 and 17 November 2012 (including arrival and departure days).The Project will be accomplished by the Istanbul Technical University European Union Centre Research Office. The main goal of ITU EU Centre Research Office is to enable the researchers to participate in EU's research and mobility programmes and provide opportunities for the integration of Istanbul Technical University into the European Research Area (ERA). In line with the commitment of Istanbul Technical University to expand relations with the institutions abroad and to promote the international exchange of experts, students and scholars; ITU EU Centre Research Office became one of the Eurodesk contact points in Turkey with the aim of disseminating the European opportunities among the ITU students and participate in the projects of Youth in Action Programme.The project targeting youth workers, youth leaders and those working for the elimination of unemployement among young people will gather participants from 10 youth organizations of 10 European countries (Portugal, France, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Romania, Estonia) to address the challenges and opportunities related to youth unemployment and social exclusion in Europe. Two youth workers from each organization were accepted out of 30 applicant organizations. The gender distribution and the diversity among the countries were considered during the selection process. In sum, there will be 20 participants from 10 diffferent European countries and 4 experts of ITU European Union Centre Research Office, 4 ITU students and 1 moderator will host them.Through a structured programme of activities and based on a range of non-formal methods (interactive discussions, role plays, team work, world cafe method, ateliers desingned to foster interactive dialogues, brainstorming), this project aims at developing participants’ knowledge in the field of European unemployment while addressing the challenges and opportunities resulting from youth unemployment and social exclusion through the presentations of each participant country. Undoubtfully, sharing country spesific examples regarding youth unemployment will provide opportunity for the exchange of experience and good practice in youth work and will foster reflection on different dimensions of youth unemployment and social exclusion in Europe. Further, the Project aims at promoting co-operation between European youth organisations in the field of youth unemployment and develop future partnerships among the participant institutions since the Project will be a platform where the youth workers could express themselves throughly and meet people who work for similar causes in the framework of youth unemployment.In order to reach above goals, there will be space for everyone to express herself/himself independently. Initial activities of the Project aim at creating suitable environment for the people to meet each other. Thus, a wellcome dinner will be given before the first day of the Project. On the first day, a campus tour will be organized to foster team spirit among the participants. In addition to the campus tour, the Culture Night providing opportunity to know different cultures will be organized on the same day.During the Project, the participants coming from different European countries will reflect different dimensions of youth unemployment spesific to their country through interactive presentations and role plays. This activity will help to share ideas and experience among the participants leading to the identification of differences and similarities regarding youth unemployment in different country cases. In addition, this process of interactive discussion and role playing will provide suitable platform for brainstroming and policy oriented group works creating possible solutions for the youth unemployment. In order to provide further solutions to the youth unemployment, two interactive presentations will be undertaken by the ITU Employment and Human Resources Centre and the Department of Industrial Product Design. While the first presentation will deal with the significance of the career centres providing counselling to the students in the universities, the second presentation will focus on a project (financed by Istanbul Development Agency) aiming to develop a job-worker finding system targeted for the recent graduates and the companies in the field of Industrial Design. The already offered solutions to the youth unemployment by the ITU experts and scholars will enlighten the participants. Further, the participants will bring about their experiences and the policies applied in their countries leading to a fruitful discussion. No doubt, ITU presentors will also benefit from the discussion. The visit to the Turkish Work Organization and to learn about the policies, activities and projects will add to the participants and they will have opportunity to compare and contrast the Turkish Work Organization with the public institutions in their country. In order to underline the importance of gender issues on youth unemployment, a professor from the department of Management Engineering will inform our participants regarding the gender dimension of youth unemployment Apart from these activities, ITU EU Centre Research Office will generate interactive discussions regarding the EU policies of youth unemployment, Europe 2020 Initiative, Youth On The Move and International funds (PROGRESS Programme, ILO, UNDP etc.) in order to foster consciousness of youth unemployment and to add on EU policy by the world cafe method and ateliers leading to brainstorming.In order to reach above goals, there will be space for everyone to express herself/himself independently. Initial activities of the Project aim at creating suitable environment for the people to meet each other. Thus, a wellcome dinner will be given before the first day of the Project. On the first day, a campus tour will be organized to foster team spirit among the participants. In addition to the campus tour, the Culture Night providing opportunity to know different cultures will be organized on the same day.During the Project, the participants coming from different European countries will reflect different dimensions of youth unemployment spesific to their country through interactive presentations and role plays. This activity will help to share ideas and experience among the participants leading to the identification of differences and similarities regarding youth unemployment in different country cases. In addition, this process of interactive discussion and role playing will provide suitable platform for brainstroming and policy oriented group works creating possible solutions for the youth unemployment. In order to provide further solutions to the youth unemployment, two interactive presentations will be undertaken by the ITU Employment and Human Resources Centre and the Department of Industrial Product Design. While the first presentation will deal with the significance of the career centres providing counselling to the students in the universities, the second presentation will focus on a project (financed by Istanbul Development Agency) aiming to develop a job-worker finding system targeted for the recent graduates and the companies in the field of Industrial Design. The already offered solutions to the youth unemployment by the ITU experts and scholars will enlighten the participants. Further, the participants will bring about their experiences and the policies applied in their countries leading to a fruitful discussion. No doubt, ITU presentors will also benefit from the discussion. The visit to the Turkish Work Organization and to learn about the policies, activities and projects will add to the participants and they will have opportunity to compare and contrast the Turkish Work Organization with the public institutions in their country. In order to underline the importance of gender issues on youth unemployment, a professor from the department of Management Engineering will inform our participants regarding the gender dimension of youth unemployment Apart from these activities, ITU EU Centre Research Office will generate interactive discussions regarding the EU policies of youth unemployment, Europe 2020 Initiative, Youth On The Move and International funds (PROGRESS Programme, ILO, UNDP etc.) in order to foster consciousness of youth unemployment and to add on EU policy by the world cafe method and ateliers leading to brainstorming.